But Stakes Is High — working with other artists and pulling in music from different places — that was a challenging album. Here, they're no longer so self-conscious and it's easy to remember why you liked them enough in the first place to stick with them through the hard times.

Love the flow of it, every track is focussed and is a real pleasure to listen to - whilst most people have got/ heard 3 Feet High (and don't get me wrong it's a great album), far less people have heard Stakes is High and its a shame because it shows how much De La Have evolved as a group.

In 2023, Billboard and Stereogum ranked the song number six and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 10 greatest De La Soul songs. The album did provide a launching pad for future star rappers and actors Mos Def, who appeared on the track "Big Brother Beat" and Common who is featured on "The Bizness". You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Super-Emcees"), skewer the industry ("The Bizness," with some help from that super MC, Common), and even shout out to their birthplace, Long Island, twice (on "Long Island Degrees" and the break-down-funky "Wonce Again Long Island").

City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo continued to impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: "De La Soul Is Dead" ('91), "Buhloone Mindstate" ('93), "Stakes Is High" ('96), "Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump" ('00) and "AOI: Bionix" ('01).