De La Soul’s eternal space as one of hip-hop’s most beloved acts comes from the fact that they've always operated on their own terms, even when so many external factors tried to knock them off their square. Whether it was cultural expectations, record label disputes, or legal troubles, De La refused to make any compromises – and they used their art as a way to persistently express exactly where they were at the time. To revisit their catalog as a whole is to acknowledge just how much ground they've covered: they've gone from bright-eyed teenagers to elder statesmen. From rookies searching for a deal to veterans who are weary of the business. From kids chasing honeys to adults raising children of their own. And their albums have captured every step of those journeys, lyrically and sonically evolving just as much as hip-hop itself did during that same 36-year span.
For most GOAT-level acts, one or two select classics are usually determined by consensus adoration (i.e. Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint, Nas’ Illmatic, Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle), with other albums essentially filling in everything underneath. But for De La Soul, the conversation is much more complicated. Some of their albums were immediately given classic status the moment they hit shelves, while others didn't earn cult status until the rest of the game caught up decades later. Some have resonance that a star rating or a spot on the Billboard chart can’t articulate, but still matter because of how they paved the way for artists to follow behind them. And some of them simply just don't live up to their own high standards.
One of the group’s most memorable lyrics is “f**k being hard, Posdnous is complicated” – and while the group's legacy is one of undeniable renown and admiration, their catalog is as webby as anything else that's lasted nearly four decades. Today, we’re sorting through that history by sifting through the albums themselves. Today, Okayplayer ranks De La Soul’s albums from worst to best; let us know where you stand.
10. And The Anonymous Nobody (2016)
The 12-year gap between De La Soul’s The Grind Date and And The Anonymous Nobody was one of the group’s most tumultuous times in the music industry. Despite bright accomplishments like a Grammy (for The Gorillaz’ 2005 hit “Feel Good Inc.”), music industry red tape prevented them from making their music available on streaming services. So they used Kickstarter to fund And The Anonymous Nobody, a studio album that would be created with a live band instead of their usual sample-based approach. Posdnous, Dave and Maseo’s skills on the mic were still apparent (see highlights like “Royalty Capes”), but the group took this as an opportunity to take as many big creative swings as possible — and that came with pros and cons. “Royalty Capes” is full of witty bars, and “Memory of (US)” merges a warm Pete Rock production with angelic Estelle vocals for a ballad that’s absolutely gorgeous. But rock mash-ups like “Lord Intended” and “CBGBS” and the saccharine, Usher-assisted “Greyhounds” weigh down the total product. Still, De La Soul at their worst is better than many other hip-hop acts at their best. And a fan-funded album by legends with guest stars like Snoop Dogg, Jill Scott and 2 Chainz is its own unique accomplishment.
9. Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000)
In the four years after their previous album, Stakes Is High, both De La Soul and hip-hop itself had gone through major changes. 2Pac and Biggie were murdered, rappers like JAY-Z, DMX, Juvenile and Eminem had proven that rap was global, and De La were settling into their lives as family men. Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump was the first part of a planned three-part series that would allow them to settle into a new role as elders in hip-hop. They love their wives, raise their children, hide under bridges overseas to avoid physical conflict (“The Art of Getting Jumped”), and they rapped as cleverly and acrobatically as ever (“My Writes,” feat. Tha Alkaholiks). But growing up doesn’t have to mean “preachy,” and De La Soul doesn’t always manage the balance that well, as bars like Trugoy’s, “While y’all fools claim corners, we claim theories” ring through as a bit pretentious. Yet, songs like the Redman-assisted “Oooh” and the hilariously satirical “Ghost Weed” skits with Pharoahe Monch, Phife Dawg and Black Thought proved that De La Soul realized something early on that it would take other vets decades to realize: maturity doesn't mean that you can't have fun.
8. AOI: Bionix (2001)
For the second installment in their Art Official Intelligence series, De La Soul enlisted the lion’s share of sonic duties to Supa Dave West instead of producing the bulk of the songs themselves. The final product is still imperfect, but it also has more all-time standout De La Soul songs. Supa Dave West handled the bulk of production, modernizing their whimsical sound on songs like the shimmery, carefree “Simply.” “Held Down” welcomes Cee-Lo for a stirring, gospel-tinged hook, while Posdnous emphasizes fearless individuality, in the contexts of his musical career, organized religion, and the world he hopes for his daughter to grow up in. The somber album closer “Trying People” digs even deeper into the layers of adulthood. Dave weighs the responsibilities of family life with the carefree enjoyment of his 20s, while grappling with the anxiety of post-9/11 NYC. Posdnous, meanwhile, fears that the demands of his musical career may cost him his family, while also recognizing his impact on youth from his old neighborhood. “They … came to me to see if I could give 'em guidance for change? S**t, y'all, I need guidance myself,” he admits. It’s one of the most powerful displays of maturity, self-awareness, and vulnerability that hip-hop had ever exhibited at that point, and that remains the case in the 25 years since.
7. The Grind Date (2004)
De La Soul had originally planned to make their seventh LP a DJ album to conclude the Art Official Intelligence trilogy, but issues with Tommy Boy Records led them to leave those plans behind. The Grind Date was released on Sanctuary Records instead, and this is a straightforward collection of beats and rhymes, not the adventurously conceptual albums of their past. But this is a good thing: for the first time, De La assembled a cadre of the best producers and just created dope songs. “Some feel free in sayin' that we don't hunger for beats / Not that we not hungry, just picky in what we eat,” Posdnous raps. With production from J Dilla, Madlib, Supa Dave West, Jake One, and 9th Wonder, it’s clear that they had good taste, with the roster delivering instrumentals that are as inventive and whimsical as De La Soul’s legacy would demand. Madlib’s buzzy jingles on “Shopping Bags (She Got From You)” are the fitting backdrop for a cautionary tale against blowing bread on attractive women.
Dilla’s “Verbal Clap” sounds like a boisterous space invasion, and Supa Dave West returns from the AOI series for several songs, including the enchanting “No,” where De La celebrates the success of their hard work over 16 years in the industry. But the album’s longest-lasting song is “Rock Co.Kane Flow,” where De La and MF DOOM all deliver unforgettable verses over a relentless, pounding Jake One instrumental.
6. Are You In?: Nike+ Original Run (2009)
One of De La Soul’s most enjoyable projects is one of its easiest to miss. Are You In?: Nike+ Original Run was exclusively released on iTunes in 2009, created in collaboration with Nike as part of a series that the sneaker company had started to appeal to runners. It was their first album in five years since The Grind Date, and was largely produced by Flosstradamus, a pair of DJs from Chicago. The mixtape truly came out of nowhere, but it’s one of their most successful projects in terms of what it set out to achieve. Posdnous explained in the accompanying digital booklet that after years of making music aimed at getting bodies moving on the dancefloor, they were excited for the challenge to inspire motion by way of exercise. Are You In? was released as a single 45-minute track, and was sequenced in a way that mirrors the highs and lows of a run on the treadmill or around a neighborhood. It was also one of De La Soul’s most fun, lighthearted projects in years, with the trio easily keeping pace over various genres without ever getting in the way.
5. Cabin In The Sky (2025)
De La Soul has weathered so many storms over the years, it almost feels unnatural to see so many things work in their favor with Cabin In The Sky, the latest LP released under Mass Appeal Records’ Legend Has It… series. The group’s first release since the 2023 death of Trugoy The Dove (aka Dave) is a gorgeous display of a village corralling to help Posdnous and Maseo celebrate their legacy and their departed friend. A star-studded roster of guests and producers assists De La with nailing that sensitive balance between being proud of their past and keeping sight of what’s in front of them. “YUHDONTSTOP” nostalgically revisits their path to greatness, “Good Health” employs a knocking Supa Dave West beat for them to surprisingly focus on the strength of their words instead of the middle-aged raps that the song’s title may imply. Collaborations with Nas (“Run It Back!!”) and Black Thought (“EN EFF,” produced by DJ Premier) are the hip-hop dreams-come-true that they should be. And the penultimate title track gives De La the space they need to poetically miss Dave while realizing how much of a blessing it was to have him around for as long as they did. Verses regularly run longer than 16 bars, occasionally making sly references to previous work that you’ll miss if you blink. Like any good homegoing service, Cabin In The Sky largely steers clear of mourning and chooses to focus on festivity and gratitude. De La Soul have pushed against the idea of this being their final album, but it certainly marks a fitting eulogy to this era of the group’s ultimate timeline.
4. Buhloone Mindstate (1993)
Love or hate De La Soul, you'd never be able to accuse them of taking the easy way out. So as odd as it might have seemed for them to lean into jazz for their third album, Buhloone Mindstate, it only made sense given their love of artistic exploration. The decision was also rooted in the company they kept: they had become jazz fans after hanging around Q-Tip, and its free-flowing nature further empowered them to fully indulge their improvisational instincts. For this LP, they go from rapping over blues guitars on “Eye Patch,” to bringing Dres of Black Sheep aboard a Grand Funk Railroad sample on “En Focus.” When they’re not doing that, they’re enlisting James Brown’s horn section (Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, and Pee Wee Ellis) to play on the Guru-featured “Patti Dooke.” That flows into a five-minute sax solo by Parker (“I Be Blowin’”) and a freestyle by Japanese rap trio Scha Dara Parr (“Long Island Wildin’”). And that’s only halfway through the album’s 48-minute adventure. The rhymes are incisive at some points and esoteric at others. They combine both elements together on “I Am I Be,” where Posdnous compares the music industry to slavery and laments the dissolution of the Native Tongues before Dave uses absurdist imagery for an impressionist painting on wax. Both verses are in service of the clique’s professed mission of obtaining knowledge of self. It was undeniably confusing and divisive the year that it was released. But 32 years later, it’s undeniably great.
3. Stakes Is High (1996)
The title of De La Soul’s fourth album speaks to various fronts. As a group, they were recovering from the lackluster response of Buhlone Mindstate, hip-hop was entering a gangsta phase that De La was bothered by, and they saw rampant homelessness and poverty in New York City. Stakes Is High saw them take on a much more serious tone than the joyful vibe of their previous albums. Songs like “Supa Emcees” and the satirical “Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Ooh Baby” lament their issues with what they saw as hip-hop’s deterioration, while the platforming of then-youngsters like Common (“The Bizness”) and Mos Def (“Big Brother Beat”) showed them being the change they'd like to be. Posdnous also told Okayplayer in an album retrospective that he was intentional then about refining his flows, and it shows – this has an argument as the group's best rapping performance. It was also the first time that the group took over their own production after previously relying on Prince Paul. But that didn't stop them from enlisting J Dilla for the incredible title track, the album’s thesis statement for the musical and cultural perils they wanted to fix. There have been dozens of hip-hop acts in later decades that would purport themselves as saviors of the genre, but Stakes Is High is as close as any rappers have gotten to making a case that fans could believe in.
2. 3 Feet High & Rising
It's impossible to understate the impact that De La Soul’s debut album made on hip-hop culture, and it's even more difficult to say anything about it that hasn't already been said. De La Soul and Prince Paul did more than walk off the beaten path: they charted a collection of highways from scratch. 3 Feet High & Rising introduced so much to hip-hop that was either underexplored or completely new. At this point in hip-hop’s evolution, funny skits designed to push an album along weren’t really a thing. But De La Soul made it part of not only their narrative utility belt, but hip-hop’s as a whole. They infused verses with their own new slang; “Buddy” was a hot body, while “public speaker” became code for MC. The LP also had the most fearless sampling curiosity that the genre had ever seen (and, in some ways, has still seen ever since). From Liberace (“Plug Tunin”) to Parliament (the timeless individuality anthem “Me Myself and I"), nothing was off limits. It was wholly original, unrepentantly silly, and fearlessly positive – all benchmarks of what they called the “D.A.I.S.Y. Age,” or “Da Inner Sound Y’all.” Flowery imagery would become both the group's biggest asset and the bane of their existence in years to come, but at this stage, it mirrors a buoyancy that matches their sunshine.
1. De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
In some ways, despite its title, De La Soul Is Dead isn't that far from the DNA of its predecessor: it's still got the hilarious wit, irreverence, and impossibly deep well of samples that made their debut stand out, and it's ultimately a fun listen. For example: “Oodles of O’s” methodically ends every line with lyrics that make an “oh” sound; the following song “Talkin’ Bout Hey Love” doesn’t feature any rapping at all, but features Pos arguing with his shorty in the Bronx about infidelity over a breezy Prince Paul creation that merges samples by Stevie Wonder, '60s singer Freda Payne and French musician Serge Gainsbourg. But they were also disenchanted by the “Black hippie” imagery that was used to make them mainstream darlings (the album cover depicts a wilted daisy). “Why do people think just because we speak peace [that] can't blow no joints?!” Maseo asks on “Pease Porridge," a song has a bystander recounting the group throwing hands. That seriousness extended beyond tough guy talk. “Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa” tells a harrowing story of a teenage survivor murdering her father for sexually abusing her, and “MyBrother’s A Basehead” has Posdnous rapping with frustration and shame while narrating the fallout of his brother’s drug addiction. The album is the best balance of everything that would ultimately make De La so special: whimsy, thoughtfulness and unpredictability, with just enough crankiness to give them an edge instead of coming across as bitter. It's one thing to create something unique from the ground up when you don't have anything to lose. But the first time De La So were presented with an opportunity to simply go with the flow and continue doing what made them successful, they proudly went against the grain – an instinct that would carry them for decades to follow.
