De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising [180g, Yellow, Comic Insert] (2LP) Vinyl

Released in February 1989 on Tommy Boy Records, 3 Feet High and Rising was De La Soul's debut album and remains the record the group is best known for. This 2023 edition, issued by AOI Records and Chrysalis under catalogue number RMM-045-1, presents the album across two 180g opaque yellow vinyl LPs and is supplied with a comic insert.

The Album

Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo worked with producer Prince Paul on a record assembled largely from samples, drawing on sources well outside the usual hip-hop palette. The result stood apart from anything else being made at the time: Robert Christgau described it as "unlike any rap album you or anybody else has ever heard". The album topped The Village Voice's 1989 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, and in 2020 was placed at number 103 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It carries Platinum certification from both the RIAA and the BPI, and remains the only De La Soul album certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Its singles, among them "The Magic Number", "Eye Know", "Say No Go", "Buddy" and "Me Myself and I", have been in circulation for more than three decades. The album itself, however, was absent from digital retail and streaming for most of that period; concerns over the legality of the samples for digital release kept it off those platforms until 3 March 2023.

This Pressing

The two discs are pressed on 180g opaque yellow vinyl and manufactured in the Czech Republic, housed in printed inner sleeves. A comic insert is included, printed with the album's illustrated strip and credits. The 23-track running order is spread across four sides.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Intro
2. The Magic Number
3. Change In Speak
4. Cool Breeze On The Rocks (The Melted Version)
5. Can U Keep A Secret
6. Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)
7. Ghetto Thang

Side B

1. Transmitting Live From Mars
2. Eye Know
3. Take It Off
4. A Little Bit Of Soap
5. Tread Water
6. Potholes In My Lawn

Side C

1. Say No Go
2. Do As De La Does
3. Plug Tunin' (Last Chance To Comprehend)
4. De La Orgee
5. Buddy

Side D

1. Description
2. Me Myself And I
3. This Is A Recording 4 Living In A Full Time Era (L.I.F.E.)
4. I Can Do Anything (Delacratic)
5. D.A.I.S.Y. Age