Chris Rock has praised De La Soul’s album Buhloone Mindstate and said he lives his life by the rhymes dropped on that record.
Rock’s comments were made as part of a series of De La Soul tributes that premiered at the group’s “D.A.I.S.Y. Experience” event in New York City last week, which commemorated both their back catalog finally arriving on streaming and the recent passing of Trugoy The Dove.
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Executive produced by Questlove, De La Soul, Grace Harry and Reservoir Media — the company behind the group’s streaming release — the series paid homage to the cultural impact of the group, with additional tributes coming from Chuck D, Prince Paul and Bill Hader.
“My favorite De La album is Buhloone Mindstate,” Rock said. “To me, there’s two De La’s. There’s De La and De La with Prince Paul, and the Prince Paul records are just fucking better. They’re hysterical. They’re better than In Living Color, they’re better than The Chris Rock Show, they go toe-to-toe with Chappelle’s Show. Everything De La did with Prince Paul is just fucking amazing.”
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Rock then quoted his favorite line off the project, which appeared on “In The Woods”: “‘Catch me breathing on the planes where the gangsters outdated/ Fuck being hard Posdnuos is complicated.’ Literally, that rhyme is how I live my muthafuckin’ life!”
Elsewhere, Chuck D took a moment to salute Trugoy The Dove, who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 54 last month. “One of the all-time great cats,” the Public Enemy legend said. “Those are like little brothers.”
This isn’t the first time Chris Rock has shouted out “In The Woods.” Back in 2014, the comedian spoke about his love for De La Soul while discussing his Top 5 rappers with Questlove.
“I was right there! Literally, I’m sitting here saying someone has to mention Posdnuos,” Rock said after the Roots drummer named Pos in his Top 5. “I’ve stolen a lot of shit from Posdnuos.”
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De La Soul’s “D.A.I.S.Y. Experience” went down at Manhattan’s Webster Hall on March 3, where surviving members Posdnuos and Maseo were joined onstage by some of rap’s biggest stars.
In addition to DJ sets from Clark Kent, D-Nice, Rich Medina, Tony Touch and Stretch Armstrong, the night saw surprise appearances from Common, Busta Rhymes, Talib Kweli, Queen Latifah, Monie Love and more.
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The latter two ran through their 1989 collab “Ladies First,” while Common performed his 2000 hit “The Light” before kicking a De La-inspired freestyle and trading bars with Kweli.
Other guests included Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Dave Chappelle, Black Thought, Prince Paul, Just Blaze, Large Professor, Pharoahe Monch, Dave Chappelle and more.
Beyond celebrating their first six albums arriving on streaming following long-running sample clearance issues and a contractual battle with their former label, Tommy Boy Records, Posdnuos and Maseo both took a moment to pay tribute to their late friend and groupmate Trugoy.
“The first person I met was this beautiful human being named Regina Peter, and she made me feel really good about myself,” Pos told the crowd. “The second person I met was a brother named Mike Jolicoeur. For those of you that don’t know, Mike Jolicoeur is the brother of Dave Jolicoeur, and he meant everything to me.”
He continued: “By me meeting him, we forged a relationship, became brothers, became more than brothers. Became partners, in sum that created an energy that everyone around the world has humbled us by respecting and loving. I am truly thankful for all of you that are here. You best believe my n-gga Dave is looking down right now on everything.”
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Maseo kept the moment brief, but shouted out Trugoy, as well as De La Soul’s loyal fans.
“I usually have a lot of words to say, but I’m at a loss for words, yo,” he said. “My emotions are very displaced. My man is gone, but I appreciate all of y’all all these years for support.”
