Hard to believe innit?
First of all, I’m not going to talk about this record here. If you don’t know it, or haven’t got it in your collection, I’ve honestly no idea what you’re doing reading this blog. In fact, stop reading this blog now. STOP. Go and buy it, or download it, and listen to it. Then come back, and maybe we can talk.
What I am going to talk about is how this album affected me personally – so stop reading again if you’re not interested! 3 ft high and rising changed my life.
I was 15 when it came out, and prior to that I hadn’t really got a grip on hiphop. I’d heard the Beastie’s first LP, but it didn’t really do it for me; I guess I felt it was a bit shouty, and bit rocky, and not really my thing. (Still don’t, really, though I guess it’s telling that I love Paul’s Boutique, the LP that the Beasties were making at the same time as 3 Ft and in the same sampladelic vein). Prior to 3 ft, most hiphop was really a drum machine and some rapping, other than stuff like PE which was more along the lines of a collage of noise. 3 ft changed the game.
For me, I first heard it with friends walking through the park back in Rochdale – a mate of mine was into hiphop and had it on tape, on his stereo. I’d honestly never heard anything like it, and borrowed it that night to listen again, and again, and again. At the time, I didn’t realise that it was made of samples, or that it was something different in rap – I just loved it. In retrospect it was probably that it wasn’t as hard a sound as PE or the Beasties, and much easier for a white working class kid, who’d not previously been into rap, to get into. The variety and sense of humour that ran through the record massively appealed (and still does).
That LP acted as a gateway drug to other records; first, People’s Instinctive Travels. I still have a really strong memory of being in a mate’s dad’s car, and passing him the tape set to play on Can I Kick It? No-one else in the car had heard it before, and that drop at the start got played again, and again, and again whilst everyone in the car went mental.
From there it was PE, Ice T, NWA, etc, etc, then soul, funk, breaks, records, jazz and onwards. I’ve seen De La about 6 times live since that start, and I’m going again this year to see them perform the 20 year anniversary in Manchester. Guarantee I won’t be the only 30+ white guy in the audience mouthing along to every word. Guess there’ll be people there who’ve heard the new stuff and maybe not 3ft – I wonder what impact it would have on them now, with the past 20 years of hip hop having gone under the bridge since?
Anyway, big up De La Soul and 3 Ft High and Rising. And big up Graham – who I’ve not seen for around 15 years or so, and who had the taste to pick up that LP and play it that night then lend it to me.
20 years of 3 ft high and rising
Hard to believe innit?
First of all, I’m not going to talk about this record here. If you don’t know it, or haven’t got it in your collection, I’ve honestly no idea what you’re doing reading this blog. In fact, stop reading this blog now. STOP. Go and buy it, or download it, and listen to it. Then come back, and maybe we can talk.
What I am going to talk about is how this album affected me personally – so stop reading again if you’re not interested! 3 ft high and rising changed my life.
I was 15 when it came out, and prior to that I hadn’t really got a grip on hiphop. I’d heard the Beastie’s first LP, but it didn’t really do it for me; I guess I felt it was a bit shouty, and bit rocky, and not really my thing. (Still don’t, really, though I guess it’s telling that I love Paul’s Boutique, the LP that the Beasties were making at the same time as 3 Ft and in the same sampladelic vein). Prior to 3 ft, most hiphop was really a drum machine and some rapping, other than stuff like PE which was more along the lines of a collage of noise. 3 ft changed the game.
For me, I first heard it with friends walking through the park back in Rochdale – a mate of mine was into hiphop and had it on tape, on his stereo. I’d honestly never heard anything like it, and borrowed it that night to listen again, and again, and again. At the time, I didn’t realise that it was made of samples, or that it was something different in rap – I just loved it. In retrospect it was probably that it wasn’t as hard a sound as PE or the Beasties, and much easier for a white working class kid, who’d not previously been into rap, to get into. The variety and sense of humour that ran through the record massively appealed (and still does).
That LP acted as a gateway drug to other records; first, People’s Instinctive Travels. I still have a really strong memory of being in a mate’s dad’s car, and passing him the tape set to play on Can I Kick It? No-one else in the car had heard it before, and that drop at the start got played again, and again, and again whilst everyone in the car went mental.
From there it was PE, Ice T, NWA, etc, etc, then soul, funk, breaks, records, jazz and onwards. I’ve seen De La about 6 times live since that start, and I’m going again this year to see them perform the 20 year anniversary in Manchester. Guarantee I won’t be the only 30+ white guy in the audience mouthing along to every word. Guess there’ll be people there who’ve heard the new stuff and maybe not 3ft – I wonder what impact it would have on them now, with the past 20 years of hip hop having gone under the bridge since?
Anyway, big up De La Soul and 3 Ft High and Rising. And big up Graham – who I’ve not seen for around 15 years or so, and who had the taste to pick up that LP and play it that night then lend it to me.