With their clever, surrealistic lyrics, inventive use of sampling and incorporating an eclectic mix of reggae, funk, jazz, fashion and psychedelia into their sound, New York-based DE LA SOUL are one of the most original and influential groups on the hip hop scene.
Singing about peace and love rather than about sleaze and violence like most of their considerably more hardcore rap contemporaries, De La Soul come across as modern day hippies, an image which found favour with rock audiences.
Hailed on their arrival on the scene in 1989 as the future of hip hop, De La Soul were quickly perceived as the leaders of a contingent of New York-based alternative rappers who dubbed themselves The Native Tongues Posse. This movement for a while looked as if it was going to eclipse hardcore hip hop in terms of popularity.
This concert, presented here in a specially re-mixed version with added visual effects, was filmed at the 1997 Lokerse Festival and features their big hits ?Me, Myself And I' (with its sample of Funkadelic's ?(Not Just) Knee Deep'), ?Ring, Ring, Ring' and ?Breakadawn'.
