The Grind Date
Studio album by
De La Soul
ReleasedOctober 5, 2004
GenreHip hop
Length52:43
Label
Producer
De La Soul chronology
De La Mix Tape: Remixes, Rarities and Classics
(2004)		 The Grind Date
(2004)		 The Impossible: Mission TV Series - Pt. 1
(2006)
Singles from The Grind Date
  1. "Shoomp/Much More"
    Released: 2003
  2. "Shopping Bags (She Got From You)"
    Released: 2004
  3. "Rock Co.Kane Flow"
    Released: 2004

The Grind Date is the seventh studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on October 5, 2004.[1] 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.

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 was reissued by BMG Rights Management to commemorate the album's tenth anniversary.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic80/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllHipHop[3]
AllMusic[4]
HipHopDX[5]
Los Angeles Times[6]
Pitchfork8.2/10[7]
RapReviews10/10[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
Tiny Mix Tapes[10]
USA Today[11]
Vibe[12]

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 21 reviews, thus giving it the "generally favorable reviews" tag.[2]

Pitchfork 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."[7] Steve Juon of RapReviews.com 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."[8]

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."[13] Dan Filowitz of 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."[14] Fiore Raymond of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ and called it "worth keeping",[15] while Robert Christgau gave it a one-star honorable mention ((1-star Honorable Mention)).[16]

Despite generally favorable reviews and positivity towards their new style, especially in production, there were those who didn't praise it. Peter Relic of 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.""[9]

Pitchfork placed the album at number 31 on the "Top 50 Albums of 2004" list.[17]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."The Future"De La Soul, Dave West, Eddie Fluellen, Hazel Jackson, Jermaine JacksonSupa Dave West3:49
2."Verbal Clap"De La Soul, J Dilla, Rick Wakeman, Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, Norman Landsberg, John Ventura, Daryl ShortJ Dilla3:16
3."Much More" (featuring Yummy Bingham and DJ Premier)De La Soul, J Dilla, Skip Scarborough, Shuggie OtisJ Dilla4:05
4."Shopping Bags (She Got from You)" (featuring Daniel Wallace)De La Soul, MadlibMadlib3:57
5."The Grind Date" (featuring Bönz Malone)De La Soul, Dave West, Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Alan WhiteSupa Dave West3:22
6."Church" (featuring Spike Lee)De La Soul, Ninth Wonder, Marlon McClain9th Wonder5:32
7."It's Like That" (featuring Carl Thomas)De La Soul, Dave West, Carl ThomasSupa Dave West4:36
8."He Comes" (featuring Ghostface Killah)De La Soul, Dave West, Ghostface Killah, Eugene RecordSupa Dave West3:44
9."Days of Our Lives" (featuring Common)De La Soul, Common, Jake One, Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, William Beck, Marshall Jones, Ralph Middlebrooks, Marvin Pierce, Clarence Satchell, James WilliamsJake One3:51
10."Come On Down" (featuring Flava Flav)De La Soul, MadlibMadlib5:01
11."No" (featuring John "Butta Verses" Cullen and Yummy Bingham)De La Soul, John "Butta Verses" Cullen, Dave West, Clifton DavisSupa Dave West4:34
12."Rock Co.Kane Flow" (featuring MF DOOM)De La Soul, Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile, Jake One, Paul Greedos, Didier Marouani, Roland RomanelliJake One3:06
European edition / Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleProducer(s)Length
13."Shoomp" (featuring Sean Paul)J Dilla3:41

Charts

Chart Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[18] 148
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 89
US Billboard 200[20] 87
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[21] 17

References

  1. ↑ Fitzgerald, Trent (October 5, 2018). "A Run-DMC Classic Gets EDM Treatment: Oct. 5 in Hip-Hop History". The Boombox. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "The Grind Date Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ Burton, Orisanmi (October 11, 2004). "The Grind Date". AllHipHop.
  4. ↑ Bush, John. "De La Soul: The Grind Date > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  5. ↑ J-23 (October 18, 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". HipHopDX.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Baker, Soren (October 24, 2004). "De La Soul as boldly creative as in the '80s". Los Angeles Times.
  7. 1 2 Warren, Jamin (October 7, 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". Pitchfork.
  8. 1 2 Juon, Steve (October 12, 2004). "De La Soul :: The Grind Date". RapReviews.com.
  9. 1 2 Relic, Peter (November 25, 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". Rolling Stone.
  10. ↑ marti332. "The Grind Date". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on October 24, 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ Jones, Steve (October 4, 2004). "De La Soul, The Grind Date". R.E.M.'s 'Sun' sets a dark tone. USA Today.
  12. ↑ Sanico, Jeff (November 2004). "De La Soul: The Grind Date". Vibe: 162.
  13. ↑ Drimmer, Josh (December 8, 2004). "De La Soul - The Grind Date". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on March 10, 2005. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  14. ↑ Filowitz, Dan. "De La Soul - The Grind Date". LAS Magazine. Archived from the original on February 16, 2005.
  15. ↑ Fiore, Raymond (October 8, 2004). "The Grind Date Review". Entertainment Weekly. p. 117. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
  16. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "CG: De La Soul". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
  17. ↑ Warren, Jamin (December 31, 2004). "Top 50 Albums of 2004 (page 2 of 5)". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on June 25, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Lescharts.com – De La Soul – The Grind Date". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – De La Soul – The Grind Date". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  20. ↑ "De La Soul Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  21. ↑ "De La Soul Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
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