3 Feet High and Rising - Reception and Influence

Reception and Influence

It is also listed on Rolling Stones' 200 Essential Rock Records and The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums (both of which are unordered). When Village Voice held its annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1989, 3 Feet High and Rising was ranked at #1, outdistancing its nearest opponent (Neil Young's Freedom) by 21 votes and 260 points. It was also listed on the Rolling Stones The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Released amid the 1989 boom in gangsta rap, which gravitated towards hardcore, confrontational, violent lyrics, De La Soul's uniquely positive style made them an oddity beginning with the first single, "Me, Myself and I". Their positivity meant many observers labeled them a "hippie" group, based on their declaration of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" (da inner sound, y'all). Sampling artists as diverse as Johnny Cash, Hall & Oates, Steely Dan and The Turtles, 3 Feet High and Rising is often viewed as the stylistic beginning of 1990s alternative hip hop (and especially jazz rap).

"An inevitable development in the class history of rap, new wave to Public Enemy's punk," wrote critic Robert Christgau in his Consumer Guide column's review of 3 Feet High and Rising. "Their music is also radically unlike any rap you or anybody else has ever heard — inspirations include the Jarmels and a learn-it-yourself French record. And for all their kiddie consciousness, junk-culture arcana, and suburban in-jokes, they're in the new tradition — you can dance to them, which counts for plenty when disjunction is your problem."

Rolling Stone magazine gave the album three stars and concluded that it was "(o)ne of the most original rap records ever to come down the pike, the inventive, playful 3 Feet High and Rising stands staid rap conventions on their def ear."

It was ranked 7 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005", ranked 88th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums. In 2003, the album was ranked number 346 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #20 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at #9 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".

• On the Billboard Music Charts, 3 Feet High and Rising hit #1 R&B/Hip hop and #24 in the Top 200.
• "One of the greatest albums ever made" – NME
• "The Sgt. Pepper of hip hop" – Village Voice
• #5 on the top 100 Albums of the Century – Spex
• Top album of 1989 – The Face
  • At #2 – Record Mirror
  • At #4 – Sounds
  • At #5 – Rolling Stone
  • At #8 – OOR
  • At #10 – Melody Maker

Electronica artist James Lavelle cited 3 Feet High and Rising as one of his favorite albums "It was definitely a reaction to the slightly more hardcore area of what was going on in hip hop. As a concept record, it’s probably one of the best ever. It’s like the Pink Floyd of hip hop, their Dark Side of the Moon – the way it musically and sonically moves around, but also the use of language was so unusual and out there."

In 2011, 3 Feet High and Rising was among 25 albums chosen as additions to the Library of Congress’ 2010 National Recording Registry for being cultural and aesthetical and also for its historical impact. “America's recorded-sound heritage has in many ways transformed the soundscape of the modern world, resonating and flowing through our cultural memory, audio recordings have documented our lives and allowed us to share artistic expressions and entertainment. Songs, words, and the natural sounds of the world that we live in have been captured on one of the most perishable of all of our art media. The salient question is not whether we should preserve these artifacts, but how best collectively to save this indispensable part of our history." — James H. Billington from the Library of Congress.

The album is also credited with introducing the hip hop skit, a style of comedic sketch used both to introduce rap albums and as interludes between songs.

In 2011, the album was named to the 2010 registry of the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. Coincidentally, Steely Dan’s album Aja, from which it samples, was also named to the registry the same year.