Released September 21, 1993 Length 48:14 Release date 21 September 1993 | Recorded 1992-1993 Label Tommy Boy Entertainment | |
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Similar De La Soul albums, Hip hop music albums | ||
Buhloone Mindstate is the third studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul. It was released in 1993 and was the group's last record to be produced with Prince Paul.
Contents
Title significance
Buhloone is a phonetic spelling of the English noun "balloon". This theme is laid out in the intro track, which starts with the sound of a balloon being inflated; then the hookline "it might blow up, but it won't go pop" is repeated over and over, until the sound of a balloon popping replaces the final word "pop". This lends itself to the interpretation that the group hope to expand their popularity with their third album without selling out.
Songs and guests
De La Soul continued the early 1990s experimentations with jazz by featuring jazz veterans Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, and Pee Wee Ellis, on "Patti Dooke" and "I Am I Be". The song "Patti Dooke" deals with what the group sees as the mainstream's efforts to control the direction of black music. Posdnous raps:
I'm known as the farmerCultivatin' mate without mendin'Bendin', compromising any of my styles to gain a smileListen while you hear itThere's no pink in my slipI reckon that the rhythm and the blues in the rap got me redWhile the boys from Tommy playing bridge crossin' to a larger communityYet they're soon to see I have a brother named LuckThe Japanese rappers Scha Dara Parr and Takagi Kan make an appearance on "Long Island Wildin'" while Biz Markie drops by on "Stone Age" and Guru makes a spoken cameo on "Patti Dooke" ("Peace to my man Premier''...So guard your trenches 'cause we runnin' through 'em. "). Dres of Black Sheep appears, and the album heavily features Shortie No Mass of Philadelphia. The album was preceded by the single and video "Breakadawn", which features samples from Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help it" and Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm."
Critical reception
At the end of 1993, Buhloone Mindstate was voted the eighth best album of the year in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by The Village Voice. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator and supervisor, ranked it fifth best on his own year-end list. In a contemporary review, Rolling Stone critic Paul Evans said the record was more focused than De La Soul's previous albums and also more ambitious sonically: "Musically, Buhloone Mind State raises the stakes; it gets to something rap seldom achieves — a truly gorgeous groove." In 2005, comedian Chris Rock named it the 10th greatest hip hop record of all time in a list published by Rolling Stone.
Track listing
All tracks written by K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston; except where indicated.
Samples
The following is a list of songs and sound footage sampled in the songs on Buhloone Mindstate.
Intro
Eye Patch
En Focus
Patti Dooke
I Be Blowin'
Long Island Wildin'
Ego Trippin' [Part Two]
Paul's Revenge
3 Days Later
Area
I Am I Be
In the Woods
Breakadawn
Dave Has a Problem...Seriously
Stone Age
Songs
1Intro0:53
2Eye Patch2:28
3En Focus3:15