De La Soul Evolves

I am writing to respond to “De La Soul Leaves Behind the Fun in Its Rush to Rap” (Nov. 29). I attended and feel that Jonathan Gold’s review was exceedingly lacking in substance. When speaking of De La Soul, Gold does not even mention the names of the rappers or the deejay. It is difficult for me to imagine a concert review of another musical genre without, at the very least, mention of the lead singer’s name.

And, as opposed to focusing on the music, Gold made ill-informed comments on De La Soul’s attire. De La Soul’s lead lyricist Posdnuos was wearing a brown-and-white beanie, which one might find on the head of a young, white grunge fan in New York, and ordinary eyeglasses. Far from “standard-issue roughneck gear.”

Then Gold says, “. . . De La Soul all but abandoned their trademark snide nursery-rhyme delivery in the rush to rap as quickly and aggressively as possible.” De La Soul’s trademark is not a nursery-rhyme delivery, they simply employed that particular style on their most popular single, “Me, Myself and I.”

As with jazz, artists and style grow and change, and this is what De La Soul has done. That is why their last album was titled “De La Soul Is Dead.”

In fairness to Gold, he can’t address all issues in a brief review, but his review is so lacking in substance and falls neatly into the tradition of the mainstream press’ simplistic coverage of a complex, highly culturally specific idiom, making a response necessary.

MICHAEL DATCHER

Los Angeles

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