The Grind Date
| The Grind Date | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by De La Soul | ||||
| Released | October 5, 2004 | |||
| Recorded | 2002–2004 | |||
| Genre | East Coast hip hop, alternative hip hop | |||
| Length | 52:43 | |||
| Label |
AOI/Sanctuary Urban 06076-87512 | |||
| Producer | Posdnuos, Supa Dave West, J Dilla, Madlib, 9th Wonder, Jake One | |||
| De La Soul chronology | ||||
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The Grind Date is the seventh album from hip-hop group De La Soul, released on October 5, 2004. The album was originally intended to be the final album of the Art Official Intelligence (AOI) trilogy, but as the album quickly changed focus, the group decided to put AOI III on hold and finish The Grind Date as a stand-alone work.
Overview
Music
The Grind Date is a notably brisker, and leaner work than the group's previous albums, and features a top of the line array of production talents including the late J Dilla (who was part of A Tribe Called Quest's production unit, The Ummah), Madlib ("Shopping Bags (She Got From You)"), and 9th Wonder ("Church"). Producer Supa Dave West, who handled the majority of the AOI albums, also contributes five tracks to the album. "Rock Co.Kane Flow" featuring MF DOOM, was produced by Jake One, and sees Posdnuos addressing some recent trends in Hip hop with the line "Unlike them, we craft gems / so systematically inclined to pen lines / without sayin a producer's name, all over the track". The well received collaboration also brought attention to the then-unknown Jake One.
The album is light on guest appearances and features a total of four guest MCs, including Common. Unlike every De La Soul album before it, The Grind Date contains no skits at all, although a short musical prelude does precede the first song "The Future". The album's conceptual cover and sleeve booklet, based on a 2005 calendar, was designed by Morning Breath Inc.
In November 2014, The Grind Date will be reissued by BMG Rights Management to commemorate the album's tenth anniversary. .
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (80/100)[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllHipHop |   [2] |
| Allmusic |  [3] |
| HipHopDX.com | [4] |
| Los Angeles Times | [5] |
| Pitchfork Media | (8.2/10)[6] |
| RapReviews.com | [7] |
| Rolling Stone | [8] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | [9] |
| USA Today | [10] |
| Vibe | [11] |
The album met with a great deal of critical praise, as of February 25, 2008 according to Metacritic, the album has received an average critic score of 80%, based on 20 reviews, thus giving it the "generally favorable reviews" tag.[1]
Pitchfork Media writer Jamin Warren praises the album writing, "The Grind Date brings together an unimaginable team of the underground's hottest producers and meshes their idiosyncrasies without dissidence."[6] RapReviews who rewarded the album with a perfect score wrote, "They were just waiting for the right time to kick precisely the right rhyme, so that "The Grind Date" would go down not just as an important date in rap history but in the pantheon of all musical endeavours since the dawn of mankind. It's that damn good."[7]
De La Soul, previously known for their skits, gained a lot of support from Stylus Magazine writer Josh Drimmer who wrote, "The Grind Date is as notable for what it lacks—skits, filler, bullshit—than for what it has." Lost At Sea also favored the no skits on The Grind Date, "The Grind Date is almost shockingly excellent. This is De La Soul at their most focused – no skits, no filler, no weird interludes." Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ and called it "worth keeping",[12] while Robert Christgau gave it a one-star honorable mention (
).[13]
Despite generally favorable reviews and positivity towards their new style, especially in production, there were those who didn't praise it. Rolling Stone wrote, "There's little personality and no surprises here..." and regards to the production "...Flavor Flav's rote shucking on "Come On Down" to Madlib's Chingy-type beat for "Shopping Bags.""[8]
Track listing
| # | Title | Length | Songwriters | Producers | Performers | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Future" | 3:49 | De La Soul, Dave West, Eddie Fluellen, Jermaine Jackson and Hazel Jackson | Supa Dave West | De La Soul | Switch - A Brighter Tomorrow |
| 2 | "Verbal Clap" | 3:16 | De La Soul, J Dilla, Rick Wakeman, Norman Landsberg, Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, Leslie Weinstein and Daryl short | J Dilla | De La Soul | Rick Wakeman - Catherine Of Aragon, Mountain - Long Red |
| 3 | "Much More" | 4:05 | De La Soul, Skip Scarborough and Shuggie Otis | J Dilla | De La Soul, DJ Premier and Yummy Bingham | L.T.D. - Love Ballad, Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23 |
| 4 | "Shopping Bags (She Got From You)" | 3:57 | De La Soul and Madlib | Madlib | De La Soul | |
| 5 | "The Grind Date" | 3:22 | De La Soul, Supa Dave West, Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Alan White (Yes) | Supa Dave West | De La Soul | Yes - Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil) |
| 6 | "Church" | 5:32 | De La Soul, Ninth Wonder and Marlon McClain | 9th Wonder | De La Soul, Spike Lee | Pleasure - Reality |
| 7 | "It's Like That" | 4:36 | De La Soul, Dave West and Carl Thomas | Supa Dave West | De La Soul, Carl Thomas | |
| 8 | "He Comes" | 3:44 | De La Soul, Carl Thomas, Ghostface killah and Eugene Record | Supa Dave West | De La Soul, Ghostface Killah | Eugene Record - Here Comes The Sun |
| 9 | "Days Of Our Lives" | 3:51 | De La Soul, Common, Jake One, William Beck, Leroy Bonner, Marshall Jones, Ralph Middlebrooks, Marvin Pierce, Clarence Satchell and James Williams | Jake One | De La Soul and Common | The Ohio Players - My Life |
| 10 | "Come On Down" | 5:01 | De La Soul and Madlib | Madlib | De La Soul and Flava Flav | Esther Williams - Last Night Changed It All |
| 11 | "No" | 4:34 | De La Soul, Butta Verses, Dave West and Clifton Davis | Supa Dave West | De La Soul, Butta Verses and Yummy Bingham | The Jackson 5 - Never Can Say Goodbye |
| 12 | "Rock Co.Kane Flow" | 3:06 | De La Soul, MF DOOM, Jake One, Paul Greedos, Diddier Marouani and Roland Romanelli | Jake One | De La Soul and MF DOOM | Space - Deliverance |
| 13 | "Shoomp" (European Release Exclusive) | 3:41 | De La Soul | J Dilla | De La Soul and Sean Paul | Tom Tom Club - Genius Of Love |
Album singles
| Single information |
|---|
"Shoomp"
|
"Shopping Bags (She Got From You)"
|
"Rock Co.Kane Flow"
|
Notes
- 1 2 "The Grind Date Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
- ↑ Burton, Orisanmi (11 October 2004). "The Grind Date". AllHipHop.
- ↑ Bush, John. "De La Soul: The Grind Date > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
- ↑ J-23 (18 October 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". HipHopDX.com.
- ↑ Baker, Soren (24 October 2004). "De La Soul as boldly creative as in the '80s". Los Angeles Times.
- 1 2 Warren, Jamin (7 October 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". Pitchfork Media.
- 1 2 Juon, Steve (12 October 2004). "De La Soul :: The Grind Date". RapReviews.com.
- 1 2 Relic, Peter (25 November 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". Rolling Stone.
- ↑ marti332. "The Grind Date". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on 24 October 2004.
- ↑ Jones, Steve (4 October 2004). "De La Soul, The Grind Date". R.E.M.'s 'Sun' sets a dark tone. USA Today.
- ↑ Sanico, Jeff (November 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". Vibe: 162.
- ↑ Fiore, Raymond (8 October 2004). "The Grind Date Review". Entertainment Weekly: 117. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert. "CG: De La Soul". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
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