3 Feet High and Rising

Great beats, great flows, and fun lyrics. The skits didn't age well; I don't relate to them at all. De la orgee was unnecessary and pointless. Me Myself and I was great. These guys are talented, and just needed to lay off the nonsense just a bit.

Kinda fun but never got into it. "Eye Know" was an interesting sample of the Steely Dan song "Peg".

Man this brings me back…. Some of this is so, so silly. It was refreshing at the time it came out. It’s uneven, but still very enjoyable. 4 Boolean: True

I didn't expect how good and whimsical it was. Very interesting sound and samples.

Corny and dated.

FIVE!!!!!

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

This is my type of old school hip hop with Tribe being my favorite from this era and sub-genre (whether it’s alt-rap, jazz rap or whatever). What I love about this album is that it swings for the fences. It has some great samples. It’s not as consistent as I’d hoped and seemed bloated.

Entiendo la importancia y lo innovador para la epoca, me parece interesante, no volvere a escucharlo probablemente jamas.

Sonically enjoyable and fun. Didn't do much for me, but the ride was fun! Rating: 3

Review - Great alt hip hop album. The bangers (Me Myself and I, The Magic Number, Eye Know etc) are great and still sound fresh. The production is great, perfect balance between turntablism, sampling and original touches. I will say, I have to dock a point or so for having unleashed the torrent of album skits on the world. The skits here aren't terrible but they set off some absolute shit. Score - 8/10 Need to listen? YES

3.5★/5 10.13.2026

Fun, positive, and playful hip hop.

A truly unique hip hop album, chaotic, and filled with some of the most creative sampling ever. It’s brilliant. Some of it is a bit messy and hard to listen to, but it’s a lot of fun and I love this album I also love the cover design

A fun album, only a few really great songs though.

Classic album. I never got as into these guys as I did the rest of Native Tongues, but "Me, Myself, and I" was everywhere for a while. This is VERY close to 4 stars for me but not quite.

This debut album from De La Soul was instrumental to the change in hip hop. Coming out in 1989, this was a revolutionary album based on all the sampling they used. It was so much it took decades to be able to stream the De La Soul albums because they could not get the copyright for everything. But this was different than the other rap at the time. This was funky and upbeat, little cursing, the opposite of gangsta rap. Listen to Me, Myself, and I. 3 is the magic number. If they don't get you moving, you might be dead.

I knew someone who was obsessed with this album. It has good flow but I never quite understood the hype.

#472 Funky and soulful hip hop is definitely up my street and I have always liked their well known tracks. At time of listening, I’m not feeling well so I was worried it might impair my enjoyment here but the quality shone through. I could do without the skits and the album goes on a little too long but these are minor quibbles. Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ✅ Listen before you die? ✅ Fave track(s): The Magic Number; Eye Know; Me, Myself & I Rating: 7/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Even tho De La is a definitive 5-star group, I have to grade this one on the curve that was later set by Stakes & Buhloon, plus there's too much corny shit on here.

3 is the magic number has been played so much, didn't know where it's from. So this is radio-friendly late 80s hip-hop. Bit more edge on Ghetto Thang. It's all erm, fine? Just one step removed from Fresh Prince. Eye Know has a light style, quite nice. Ooh there's actually swearing at some point! Ooh, Buddy has Q-Tip from a Tribe Called Quest. I had thought in places here there was that vibe, kinda laid back, almost jazzy. Me Myself and I has a princey funky vibe on the instrumentals Best track - Ghetto Thang, Eye Know, Buddy 3 stars

90s boom bap rap and maybe it was me, but the band track overpowered the vocals making it drowned out. I would give this a higher rating but there were some songs that carried the album and the rest were bad. I'm looking at you "De La Orgee"

An absolutely essential album in the evolution of hip-hop, and it definitely lives up to the hype. Solid 5 Stars.

I’m at a 5. I was pretty sure this would be good going into it, based on what little I knew of De La Soul & their reputation, and let’s just say that I’m De La Sold on these guys. Great flow from Plug One, Two & Three, great lyricism across the board for a number of these tracks, and some super unique production for 1989 that you quite literally could not get away with nowadays. I do think it’s a little heavy on the skits in a way that makes the overall flow of the full 63 minutes a little muddy, but the skits are all pretty entertaining, so it balances out. I think the only “main” track that didn’t really work for me was “Potholes In My Lawn”, but even still, I think it’s not bad at all. My favorite one here is probably “Ghetto Thang” – it feels like a Tribe Called Quest cut in the best way, & I do wish a few more tracks focused on the serious side instead of the loose ‘hip-hop hippies’ energy they so desperately try to avoid for most of this album. That said, I really like that energy; it’s just an infectiously fun album, even when they decide to pull a De La Orgee out of left field. You can tell they had fun making it, and the D.A.I.S.Y. ethos that permeates the whole thing puts the “soul” in De La Soul. It’s one of those albums where having the lyrics in front of you & following along will help immensely, and they really are saying a lot here. Granted, they’re also saying you smell a lot too, so be sure to use your soap. If you let it all wash over you & cleanse your ears, you’ll get what feels like a hip-hop classic, and certainly one of the best rap albums of the 1980s. For my tastes, I do think “Done By The Forces Of Nature” & “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” are ahead of it, but this is a close third; that’s fine by me, since 3 is the magic number after all. I could easily understand it being someone’s favorite 80s rap album though. For me, it’s an easy 5, and I’m glad I finally got around to it. Thank goodness this is on the list.

Supongo que fue entretenido, pero la veritá no idea breo. Oki doki

Listened on 24th February 2026. Favourite song is Me, Myself and I.

I want to start out by affirming that this album definitely belongs to the cohort of albums you must hear before you die. You can trace the historical continuity from here to the present. You hear this heritage unmistakably in all of the hip-hop that came out of the East Coast. De La Soul is one of the foundational bricks in that musical tradition, end of story. It is also easy to appreciate the lyricism, even though most of us have gotten used to more sophisticated rhymes of our post-2010 era. Let's not forget the presence of "Me Myself and I," which has ascended to the pantheon of the greatest tracks in hip-hop music. They even got Q-Tip to produce a track, a sensational one even. With that said, how much of the runtime of 3 Feet High is devoted to skits? They feel inescapable. I think we have been a bit to harsh on the skit as a form in the intervening decades; there are many cases where a skit elevates the music around it. There are great examples such as the eerie Midnight Marauder guide from the now-classic album of the same name that gave the project its backbone, or the pinnacle of the form in the chaotic acts on the margins in the 36 Chambers. Here the skits, with the exception of Take It Off (which is somewhere between track and skit) are like tying a leaden brick to the rest of the album. They are suffocating. The sex skit in particular is enough to blunt even the sharpest offering (though nowhere near as grating as the blowjob skit in Ready to Die).

A beacon of light in an era where hip hop was all negativity. I am subtracting one star for introducing the trope of the annoying skit in rap albums. 4 stars

Qsy, normal. No es mi tipo de música favorito y fue un poco largo el disco. Sólidas 2 estrellas.

Enjoyed! Sparked a day listening to hip hop and rap.

3.5

I was so happy when this popped up yesterday! An easy five stars for one of the most interesting groups in hip hop. Some of the best beats from the wild west sampling days, unique flow, and they manage to pull off humor without making themselves the punchline. I love me some DE LA SOU!

Some silly hop right there.

Playful and funky, albeit a bit too long.

curioso disco

It's funky but grating

There were definitely songs that I enjoyed here, but there was so much fluff on the album that brought down the overall experience for me.

4.5

Can I say soulful rap? 3 Feet High and Rising is classic from the 90s. Understated, soft spoken and whimsical hip hop. The album goes on for a bit too long, but it's always great to revisit it.

I liked the song change in speak. Just not sure when I would ever listen to this again.

This project is prodding me toward becoming a mini 90's hiphiphead. Why are they all so good? This def wandered off the path sometimes but always came back, beep-bapping with just the right mix of serious and wonky. Color me a fan.

Oh, De La Soul, you were so close. This is such a fantastic album. The rapping is terrific and the production is just magnificent. It's so lush and rich. I'm glad I'm getting this on a Friday, so I can spend the weekend listening to it. I wanted so badly to give this 5 stars. This was so close to being an inner-circle 5 star, too. There is just too much fat on the album. The skit-ish tracks are completely superfluous and break you out of the flow of the album. Why did you add them, De La Soul?

You can tell how much fun the group had making this album. It oozes charisma the whole way through. You can hear how influential it is by bringing fun hip hop to the forefront of popularity, especially in a time when a lot of hip hop was starting to become gritty and edgier. Well worth a listen and a spot on this list. Some of the skits got tiring though, and even judging purely on the tracks there were a couple of skips, but even then the songs were merely a bit boring but certainly not terrible.

I mean, beats are nice. 1.75

Staan paar heerlijke nummers op

The very best hip hop album ever conceived. 100/5.

A masterclass in sampling.

Here we go again, another hip-hop album... and I am delighted to say I actually liked this one. Not to the extreme to love it, not to say I found it quite interesting. But it is cohesive, funny, some songs are pretty good, and I love how it flows, it almost feels short with all those interludes and changes between songs. It is not repetitive at all, and that is my main critique to hip-hop, so, well done. It is a hip-hop album I can actually like and enjoy listening to.

Really strong record, good vibes all round. Favourite tracks: Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge), Eye Know, Say No Go, Me Myself and I (absolute banger).

Bon album de la rap, les instrus sont vraiment chouettes et l'ambiance dans tout l'album nous donne vraiment l'impression d'entendre trois potes qui s'amusent. Juste pas obligé de mimer une orgie sur une minute.

WYD "I can hold two pieces of doo doo in my hand"???? Like yes, yes you can, but maYBE NO??

De la Soul, klassikoiden klassikko. Paitsi vasta seuraava albumi De la Soul is dead. Tämä on vieraampi (olen ollut ilmestyessä 12 v) paitsi toki Me myself and I. Kuitenkin, De la Soul -soundi on jo tällä albumilla ja se saa aikaan hyvin vahvat notalgiavibat. Ehkä kuitenkin juuri nostalgian ansiosta 3/5. 3/5

The old school beats and flow are bringing me back to a simpler time, but the subject matter is so juvenile it's keeping this album from climbing too high for me. Fun but dated.

Ok

Всегда сложно писать рецензии на подобные легендарные альбомы рэпа. С одной стороны, первоклассные биты, весёлая атмосфера, прорывное звучание для своего времени, а с другой, 20+ треков, ни один из которых не чувствуется цельным, к тому же они ещё и похожи все друг на друга. Да, это хороший альбом, мне было приятно его послушать, но я вряд ли послушаю его второй раз. Лучшая песня: Eye Know

(Light 9/10) A very fun record with superb highlights and a kind of witty lyricism and "out there" chemistry that was very predictive of the conscious hip hop sub genre. For me the skits kind of chop up the album flow in a way that isn't very flattering to the project overall, but when it's good it's VERY good.

otprilike kao kad si na kavi sa skupinom ljudi koji se međusobno odavno znaju. ti si ih upoznao relativno nedavno, nasamo je svatko od njih okej i nije ti nimalo neugodno s nekim od njih jedan na jedan, ali kad su skupa, razgovor se većinski kreće unutar okvira njihovih prastarih internih fora koje ti nisu baš jasne, neugodno ti je jer pola toga ne razumiješ i jer su pojedine interne fore bez konteksta u biti dosta krindž. nakon kave s olakšanjem odahneš jer je gotovo. tako je meni bilo s pjesmama i skitovima na ovom albumu

Still one of the best hip hop albums around. It could have more highs, but the flow and the ambience makes a consistent album nonetheless.

8/10 According to Wikipedia this album is on a bunch of those "best albums of all time" lists - and you know what? I believe it. The music isn't really my kind of thing (I'm just not an 80s/90s hiphop lover), but it's so radically it's own thing that I can't help but enjoy it. There are a lot of interesting samples, the beats are way different than those of their contemporaries, and it's just a good time all around. What a fun discovery.

Dig the vibe

De La Soul's debut is brighter and more lively than most other 80s hip hop, with lush, layered beats bursting with samples. This results in some incredible songs, with "The Magic Number" and "Eye Know" at the top. Even lesser songs like "Tread Water" show how fun and loose the group could be. Unfortunately, this album is also ahead of its time for another reason: it's packed with pointless skits. The game show sketches are not funny nor creative, and the longer interludes add even less. And as innovative as this is, it's clear there are still some growing pains; some of the tracks feel a little clunky or stilted, with the samples not quite working together, and the rapping similarly doesn't always flow well. A very important and influential album but not one that's held up terribly well.

love this one — previously listened

Bacana

Not my style, it was fine but nothing overly well done for me

Possibly the greatest sample driven hip hop record of the era. Plus psychedelic grooves that are unmatched.

Cant stand this hip hop

Wanted to like this more than I did just because I love and respect what they stand for as a group. This ultimately felt a bit bloated in parts to me, but I did enjoy most of it. The highs on this album are undeniably great. Feeling a 3/5 on this one for me personally.

Classic rap. Just saw them open for Erykah Badu, it was great! Legendary hip-hop

It's not Tribe Called Quest but it's pretty cool.

A perfect bland of pop and hip-hop. Absolute classic.

Not bad hip hop - quite amusing, but ultimately not enough to hold attention

Gold

Kinda like it, kinda dont

I recall listening to this in my friend Ed Ross' house and being intrigued by the superb samples and plain odd lyrics. Now, the beats and rhymes will always be second to Tribe, but it's an album I'll always enjoy coming back to. Compared to pretty much all rap since, it's so wholesome - not much swearing, plenty of Daisy Age aphorisms, a bit of daft humour, and some childish insults about BO. I can just about tolerate the skits now, like annoying old friends, although I could definitely do without the Orgy skit (these guys were supposed to be the conscious ones?!). There's so much for the sampling trainspotter to enjoy - and if this was a golden age, it was for copyright lawyers retrospectively claiming millions off poor old De La. When they made it the label didn’t think that really had to clear the samples because they only expected the album to sell a couple of thousand anyway! Because of this, for a long time it was unavailable on Spotify - and for some of the songs have been remade to avoid legal issues. Things have gone a bit far when "Eye Know" is partially credited to Otis Redding in the Spotify credits, but I have this record to thank for being a gateway to some great tunes - I can still remember being struck at King's Event by Bob Dorough's original of "Three is The Magic Number" - and to this day I prefer it to the De La Soul remake. Some of the tunes are just perfect - "Say No Go" is peak hip-hop in 1991.

Aha now I know where that irritating ring signal comes from (Three is the magic number)! "Tread Water" and "Say No Go" are actually something I can enjoy, funkylicious!

A strange charming hour. I can see this being a blueprint for weird kid suburban rap to come.

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

Robert Christgau wrote that La Soul’s “3 Feet High And Rising” stands out from all other hip-hop albums. I don’t agree with that: To me, it sounds just like any other hip-hop album. In fact, the beats and the overall swag are above average for a hip-hop group. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good album by any means. For its genre, however, it’s perfectly tolerable.

Not bad, but not my jam

Divertido, mas não é minha praia. Dificilmente escutarei de novo e não teria feito falta se não tivesse ouvido.

The sound of organic and playful creativity that isn't concerned with the listener, in the best kind of way. De La Soul couldn't fathom that so many people would hear, and love, this record, to the point that they didn't even bother to clear all the samples, inadvertently making the record all but inaccessible for literal decades. As a result, it's not a perfect album. There are plenty of moments that should have been left on the cutting room floor, but the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach is part of its charm. The kaleidoscopic production is on another skill level. Prince Paul stakes his claim to being the best sampling producer of all time with bizarre combinations of samples that are greater than the sum of their parts, resulting in day-glo Frankensteins that could never appear in nature.

Art rap, progressive rap, jazz rap, psychedelic hip hop, sampledelia.

An album I wanted to listen for a while but just forgot. So thats nice. I love the cover of this album. Its one of the most fun album ive ever listened too. The skits are funny, the lyrics are great. The heavy usage of sampling is the best part of it. It sounds so unique. Not every songs is great but the good songs are so good. Also theres a lot of skits wich make it difficult to rate. De La 4/5

Old school. Great album

It’s a shame that some people can only hear the “I’ve got doo doo in my pocket” lines and think that’s all this album amounts to. Those lines are actually hilariously ridiculous and have an actual point anyways (making a group chant “doo doo” in call and response is a funny send up). But there is also ridiculous lyrical depth and creativity in this album, including the creation of a whole world out of which to position their view. And it is deeply creative musically. These guys were 18/19 years old when they wrote these words, and Prince Paul brought out the best in them. This is a work of genius, actually.

Not as bad as I thought it would be, but it’s still too long.

First time listening: Songs are great, the skits in between are mostly skippable, like the fun laid-back feel. Favourite tracks: 3 is (the magic number) Change in speak Jenifa taught me (Derwin's revenge) Me myself and I

Some fun hip hop and rap on here. An enjoyable listen

Hmm. It wasn't bad or vulgar sounding music like some of the hip-hop my regretful ears have been subjected to around here. Despite that, I didn't care for it. Next.

If you ask me, 1 is the magic number.

nah

Just iconic hip hop. I feel like o know every word of every track and skit. An absolute amusement park ride of a record in the best possible way.

I’ve seen De La Soul live and they were excellent, with the exact right energy that you want to hype up a crowd. This album does feel very 80s by modern hip hop standards, but it still has an element of classic hip hop beats. Sadly, this album is far too long and could have done with being half the length. Having a select few solid tracks would have made the album stronger, but 3 bangers out of 23 tracks is a bit lackluster. An 8-track album would have been better here. 5/10

I'm at constant odds with this album. The main songs of this album are really good and really deserve a great four-star record. Unfortunately between the skits and the interludes, and there are a lot of them, it really just drags me out. I know that is a consistent rap trope in the 80s and 90's, but half the time if it's not about the music it just pulls me out. Some of the interludes we're just straight up silly, and that really pulled me out of the flow as well. But at the core it's a really great album but I can't quite get it to the four star. 7.7 ★★★½

Very enjoyable hiphop record. 4.5 stars

This album is to hip-hop what Revolver was to rock music. It changed the rules of the genre and expanded the possibilities. Prince Paul's dense layered sampling is a work of art in itself and it's aged like a fine wine. It would sound as amazing today as it did in 1989. But, a lot of credit goes to De La Soul too. Their flow is much improved over the rappers that came before them and the lyrical content is full of social consciousness, but also brings a lot of fun too. To me, this is a super joyful album. My day improves when I hear these songs. Even the skits are fun. Highlights include "3 is the Magic Number", "Plug Tunin'", "Buddy", "Say No Go", "Me Myself & I", and the incredible "Eye Know". 5 stars.

The Please Please Me of psychedelic hip hop. Not quite Revolver as there’s only about 3 or so great tracks tops but they are really ultra spiffing greatly awesome tracks that are still the best of what the genre has to offer and very much sound evergreen, joyous and essential just like how Love Me Do, I Saw Her Standing There and Twist & Shout do on Please Please Me. Like on Please Please Me there’s a lot of material outside of the obvious big hit singles that just isn’t as up to the same snuff and just feels a bit dated and dull in comparison. Also some lame game show skits that to its credit the original Please Please Me didn’t have. With those skits removed this actually feels more like a double album version of the Please Please Me of psychedelic hip hop or even a triple album version because the back half of this sure does drag. Still a classic though this here Please Please Me Plug One Plug Two Plug One Plug Two.

Such a vibe it’s one part rap, one part sampling, and one part joy. I’m so happy it’s finally cleared some hurdles to be available widely

De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising was fun, energetic, and considerably lighter fare than some of the gangster rap we’ve also been subjected to on this list. While I’m still not a fan of skit filler on rap or hip-hop albums, these actually seemed to fit the overall theme and vibe De La Soul were going for rather than feeling like pointless padding. The runtime is still a little longer than my personal preference when it comes to rap and hip-hop, but there was something undeniably enjoyable about this record. More than anything, 3 Feet High and Rising felt like a very specific time capsule of 1989, and nostalgia played a surprisingly important role in my enjoyment of it. That became especially apparent when “Me Myself and I” started playing. Sometimes an album doesn’t just remind you of a particular time—it reminds you of what it felt like to be there.

A quirky and enjoyable ride with one of the more interesting hip-hop groups of the 90s. They always seemed to be very self-aware and playful and coupled that with an IDGAF attitude. Good stuff here.