In the late ’80s and early ’90s everything was up in the air. The movements and style of the ’80s were now the cookie cutter clichés they were originally dedicated to busting free from. Bands once again began to break free of the definitions that defined and confined them. But how? It seemed that at last there was truly little if any left to discover and the old saying, “nothing new under the sun,” gained weight. We saw a lot of hip-hop/rock collabs but perhaps one of the freshest perspectives was right in front of our faces: be yourself.

De La Soul rejected the idea of what they were supposed to look like and sound like as a hip-hop group. In a time where hip-hop was increasing focused on being hard groups like De La Soul were showing that rappers didn’t have to be what media told them to be while they also furthering the art with well thought out prose and abstract lyrics. “Breakadawn” is of my favorite tracks and I used to rock the instrumental in downtempo/breaks set. With a sample from “I Can’t Help It” by Michael Jackson and a metronome-like break, it’s an emotional jam that will get your head nodding to the beat.

Catch De La Soul’s DJ Maseo tonight at Tropicalia.