Square, understated, and workmanlike, 2004’s The Grind Date (Sanctuary) is yet another reminder that DE LA SOUL didn’t become the most consistent recording act in hip-hop history by taking chances. Nope, they established a streak of creative longevity unprecedented in the rap game–seven studio albums since 1989 without a misstep–by laying claim to an idiosyncratic groove and riding it out just like old-time R & B pros. Titling their 1991 album De La Soul Is Dead now seems like a brilliant career move: by preemptively declaring that they’d fallen off, they freed themselves from a lifetime of unsuccessful attempts to out-weird the visionary Day-Glo poetics of their debut, 3 Feet High and Rising. The sonic punch lines on The Grind Date are rarer than on the two “Art Official Intelligence” albums, but thankfully their taste in white folks hasn’t gotten any cooler–they sample Rick Wakeman and Yes here, on two separate tracks. Their everyman personas and trademark sound–blocky yet quirky, with faint shimmers of 70s lite-funk–are now so established that the guests on the album don’t mess with them; the contributions from hot-shit producers Madlib and Ninth Wonder blend in seamlessly, and even loopy MCs like Ghostface and MF Doom flow like regular dudes. As always, De La Soul’s rhymes qualify the language other rappers carelessly toss around (“Not that we not hungry / Just picky in what we eat”) while celebrating unflashy perseverance–theirs included. –Keith Harris
