Buhloone Mindstate
Buhloone Mindstate | ||||
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Studio album by De La Soul | ||||
Released | September 21, 1993 | |||
Recorded | 1992–1993 | |||
Genre | Hip hop | |||
Length | 48:14 | |||
Label |
Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records 01063 | |||
Producer | De La Soul, Prince Paul | |||
De La Soul chronology | ||||
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Singles from Buhloone Mindstate | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Chicago Sun-Times | [2] |
Chicago Tribune | [3] |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | A[4] |
Entertainment Weekly | A+[5] |
NME | 8/10[6] |
Pitchfork | 9.1/10[7] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [8] |
The Source | 4.5/5[9] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10[10] |
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.
Title
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 farmer
- Cultivatin' mate without mendin'
- Bendin', compromising any of my styles to gain a smile
- Listen while you hear it
- There's no pink in my slip
- I reckon that the rhythm and the blues in the rap got me red
- While the boys from Tommy playing bridge crossin' to a larger community
- Yet they're soon to see I have a brother named Luck
The 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.[11] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator and supervisor, ranked it fifth best on his own year-end list.[12] 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."[13] In 2005, comedian Chris Rock named it the 10th greatest hip hop record of all time in a list published by Rolling Stone.[14]
Track listing
All tracks written by K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston; except where noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Intro" | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, L. Dickens | 0:52 |
2. | "Eye Patch" | 2:27 | |
3. | "En Focus" (featuring Shortie No Mass and Dres of Black Sheep) | 3:15 | |
4. | "Patti Dooke" (featuring Guru, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis) | 5:54 | |
5. | "I Be Blowin'" (featuring Maceo Parker) | 4:58 | |
6. | "Long Island Wildin'" (featuring Scha Dara Parr and Takagi Kan) | 1:30 | |
7. | "Ego Trippin' (Part Two)" | 3:52 | |
8. | "Paul's Revenge" | 0:43 | |
9. | "3 Days Later" | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, A. Snyder, T. George | 2:39 |
10. | "Area" | 3:31 | |
11. | "I Am I Be" (featuring Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis) | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, B. Gordy, B. Davis, F. Wilson, P. Holloway | 5:03 |
12. | "In the Woods" (featuring Shortie No Mass) | 4:01 | |
13. | "Breakadawn" | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, R. Jones, W. Robinson, S. Wonder, S. Greene | 4:14 |
14. | "Dave Has a Problem...Seriously" | 0:55 | |
15. | "Stone Age" (featuring Biz Markie) | 4:13 |
Samples
The following is a list of songs and sound footage sampled in the songs on Buhloone Mindstate.
Intro
- "Deep Gully" by The Outlaw Blues Band
Eye Patch
- "Micaela" by Pete Rodriguez
- "Instrumental" by Jimmy Reed
- "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)" by Lee Dorsey
- "Deep Gully" by The Outlaw Blues Band
En Focus
- "Dance Sister (Biofeedback)" by Peech Boys
- "Nothing Is the Same" by Grand Funk Railroad
- "I Like Funky Music" by Uncle Louie
- "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton
- "Intimate Connection" by Kleeer
- "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock
- "Set It Off" by Strafe
Patti Dooke
- "Improvisation in Fourths" by Dick Hyman
- "People Make the World Go Round" by Milt Jackson
- "Rock Box" by Run-DMC
- "Word From Our Sponsor" by Boogie Down Productions
- "Straight Out the Jungle" by Jungle Brothers
I Be Blowin'
- "The Next Band – Music: Brother Soul Pt. 1" by Eddie Harris
- "You've Made Me So Very Happy" by Lou Rawls
Long Island Wildin'
- "Spinning Wheel" by Wade Marcus
- "Ground Hog" by Duke Pearson
Ego Trippin' [Part Two]
- "Harlem Hendoo" by Al Hirt
- "Ain't No Half Steppin'" by Heatwave
- "Girls" and "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" by The Beastie Boys
Paul's Revenge
- "Come in Out of the Rain" by Parliament
3 Days Later
- "Hot Dog" by Lou Donaldson
- "Love in the Streets (Ain't Good as the Love at Home)" by Johnnie Taylor
- "Don't Change Your Love" by Five Stairsteps
- "The Champ" by The Mohawks
- "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over" by David Porter
Area
- "Come Dancing" by Jeff Beck
I Am I Be
- "You've Made Me So Very Happy" by Lou Rawls
- "Miracles" by Jefferson Starship
- "The Soil I Tilled for You" by Shades of Brown
- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Jimmy Ponder
- "Keep Your Fat Mouth Out of My Business" by Snooky Pryor
- "The Next Band – Music: Brother Soul Pt. 1" by Eddie Harris
Breakadawn
- "I Can't Help It" by Michael Jackson
- "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz" by Biz Markie
- "Quiet Storm" by Smokey Robinson
- "Daydream" by Blue Mitchell
- "Yes We Can Can" by Pointer Sisters
- "Sang and Dance" by Bar-Kays
Dave Has a Problem...Seriously
- "Something Else Again" by Richie Havens
Stone Age
- "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss
- "Pussyfooter" by Jackie Robinson
- "Funky President (People It's Bad)" by James Brown
- "Lonely Days" by Gregory Isaacs
References
- ↑ Huey, Steve. "Buhloone Mindstate – De La Soul". AllMusic. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ↑ Keller, Martin (October 10, 1993). "De La Soul, 'Buhloone Mind State' (Tommy Boy)". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved April 8, 2017. (Subscription required (help)).
- ↑ Kot, Greg (September 30, 1993). "Hip-hop Humor". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert (2000). "De La Soul: Buhloone Mindstate". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ↑ Bernard, James (October 8, 1993). "Buhloone Mindstate". Entertainment Weekly. New York (191). Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ↑ "De La Soul: Buhloone Mindstate". NME. London: 37. September 25, 1993.
- ↑ Nosnitsky, Andrew (July 24, 2016). "De La Soul: Buhloone Mindstate". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ↑ Caramanica, Jon (2004). "De La Soul". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. pp. 224–25. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ↑ Johnson, Brett (October 1993). "De La Soul: Buhloone Mindstate". The Source. New York (49): 67. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
- ↑ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
- ↑ Pazz & Jop 1993: Critics Poll
- ↑ Pazz & Jop 1993: Dean's List
- ↑ Evans, Paul (23 December 1993). "Buhloone Mind State". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
- ↑ "Chris Rock's Top 25 Hip Hop Albums". rateyourmusic.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-07. Retrieved 1 September 2011.