Debut 3 Feet High and Rising was the epiphany, but this is the simultaneous expansion and recasting: they already told you they’re not hippies, but in case you didn’t listen, now they’ll have to smack you around a bit. De La and Prince Paul are still in humorous deep-dive geek-down mode, but the comedy’s darker, the beats funkier, and the intricate conversation-as-poetry flows put to deeper storytelling use.

– Nate Patrin

On their sophomore effort, De La Soul goes beyond re-inventing themselves by symbolically killing off the “hip-hop hippie” image that plagued them during the release of their stellar debut, 3 Ft. High and Rising. De La Soul Is Dead finds the Long Island trio, backed by eclectic producer Prince Paul, a bit more world-weary but no less sardonic, playful and creatively inspired. Rarely has metaphoric death yielded such a glorious rebirth.

– Oliver Wang