ARTIST: De La Soul
ALBUM: And The Anonymous Nobody
RELEASE DATE: August 26, 2016
They’re back! That’s right the Hip hop trio De La Soul is back on the scene with they’re ninth studio album entitled “And The Anonymous Nobody”. The group, formed in Long Island, New York in 1987, consists of Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos), David Jude Jolicoeur (Dave), and Vincent Mason (Maseo). “And The Anonymous Nobody” consists of 17 tracks and was released on August 26, 2016. It was De La Soul’s first album to debut at number one on the Billboard Top Rap Albums.
While the album has a plethora of featured artists such as Jill Scott, Snoop Dogg, Estelle, Pete Rock, Usher and 2 Chainz it still came off as inconsistent with a clash of different sounds and moods that does not work well together. For the majority of the album it has no momentum and no consistency because it’s always attempting to do something different in essence making detours from one song to the next. One of the most disappointing factors was the trio didn’t make that many poignant statements which is to be expected from a De La Soul album.
Another disappointing factor was all of the collaborations on the tracks which one would think would have been great due to the star power but alas the majority of them were not. The musical vibe and sound from these various artists just did not work well on the album. These various artists are so prominent on the tracks that it’s as though De La Soul handed the mike over to them so that they could change the album into their image instead of that of the trio’s.
Two tracks on the album that felt like De La Soul’s original sound was ‘Nosed Up’ and ‘Whoodeeni” featuring 2 Chainz. These are two fun, eccentric, catchy tracks with engaging verses that consist of witty, comedic lines. This is the formula where the trio shines the brightest. If the collaborations had been somewhat more split with more De La Soul and less of the featured guests then the tracks would have been much better.
One track which came off as very self serving was ‘Genesis’ featuring Jill Scott where she’s telling the listener when something is irrelevant and no one loves it then you have to love it. The sentiment was meant to be poignant but came off as a subliminal message to love the album even though it’s bad.
“And The Anonymous Nobody” is disappointing and underwhelming. The inconsistency throughout the album was extremely heartbreaking compared to other albums that the trio have released in the past. The album receives a very generous 3 stars out of 10 stars.