De La Soul - Stakes Is High

De La Soul is an innovative hip-hop group from New York who are best known for introducing positivity into the genre, when it was dominated by intensity and machismo. Stakes Is High was their first album without founding producer Prince Paul. A full three albums from their first, De La finds their footing with Stakes Is High. Here, they're no longer so self-conscious and it's easy to remember why you liked them enough in the first place to stick with them through the hard times. With unfaltering lyrical dexterity, they get to ask the question, "Whatever happened to the Emcees?" ("Super-Emcees"), skewer the industry ("The Bizness," with some help from that super MC, Common), and even shout out to their birthplace, Long Island, twice (on "Long Island Degrees" and the break-down-funky "Wonce Again Long Island").