On this day, May 13 in hip-hop history...

Tommy Boy Records
Tommy Boy Records
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1991: On May 13, 1991, Long Island rap trio De La Soul dropped their second full length album, De La Soul Is Dead under Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records.

With an attention-grabbing title like De La Soul Is Dead, the alternative rap group aimed to shock and awe their listeners who thought they had gotten comfortable in the sound from their debut LP, 1989's 3 Feet High and Rising. De La also wanted to fight the image the media had created around them: being hippies.

The 27-track project features five skits and guest appearances from Q-Tip, Vinia Mojica, Squirrell and Preachers. Told in the form of a continuous story, the skits illustrate kids finding a De La Soul tape in the trash, "reading" along with the music and eventually throwing it away again, exclaiming, "De La Soul is dead."

The LP birthed the disco-sampled single, "A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays"" which peaked at number 43 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list and number 6 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Songs.

De La Soul Is Dead is revered one of the best hip-hop albums of the '90s by critics and is ranked at number 87 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Best Albums of the Nineties. Today, we celebrate the anniversary of the standout LP. Salute.

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