Rating: NNN
Former new-school innovators turned old-school holdouts, De La Soul go on the offensive with The Grind Date, serving second-rate rappers and blinged-out Bad Boys alike while boasting of their own creativity, street smarts, perseverance and love of hiphop, all of which have contributed to their unusual longevity. Criticisms of weak beats are addressed with the thunderous choir-sized skin-slap boom bap of Verbal Clap. Still, their attempts to sound current by using horribly dated Kanye-style soul chanteuse loops just confirm the accusations that De La Soul are out-of-touch relics that they’re so desperately trying to dispell.