| Buhloone Mindstate | ||||
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| Released | September 21, 1993 | |||
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| Length | 48:14 | |||
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| De La Soul chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Buhloone Mindstate | ||||
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Buhloone Mindstate is the third studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul. It was released on September 21, 1993, through Tommy Boy Records, and was the group's last record to be produced with Prince Paul.
Buhloone is a phonetic spelling of the English noun "balloon". Posdnous described the title as meaning "we're popular but not trying to make pop music." [1] This theme is laid out in the intro track, which starts with the sound of a balloon being inflated; then the hookline "it might blow up, but it won't go pop" is repeated over and over, until the sound of a balloon popping replaces the final word "pop".
De La Soul continued its early- to mid-1990s experimentations with jazz by featuring jazz veterans Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, and Pee Wee Ellis, on "Patti Dooke" and "I Am I Be". The song "Patti Dooke" deals with what the group sees as the mainstream's efforts to control the direction of black music. Posdnuos raps:
The Japanese rappers Scha Dara Parr and Takagi Kan make an appearance on "Long Island Wildin'" while Biz Markie appears on "Stone Age" and Guru does the spoken chorus of "Patti Dooke". Dres of Black Sheep appears on "En Focus", and the album heavily features Shortie No Mass. The album was preceded by the single and video "Breakadawn", which features samples from Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help It" and Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm".
| Initial reviews (in 1993) | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Chicago Sun-Times |  [2] |
| Chicago Tribune |  [3] |
| Christgau's Consumer Guide | A [4] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A+ [5] |
| Music Week |  [6] |
| NME | 8/10 [7] |
| Select |   [8] |
| The Source | [9] |
| Retrospective reviews (after 1993) | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [10] |
| Pitchfork | 9.1/10 [11] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10 [13] |
At the end of 1993, Buhloone Mindstate was voted the eighth best album of the year in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by The Village Voice . [14] Robert Christgau, the poll's creator and supervisor, ranked it fifth best on his own year-end list. [15] In a contemporary review, Rolling Stone critic Paul Evans said the record was more focused than De La Soul's previous albums and also more ambitious sonically: "Musically, Buhloone Mindstate raises the stakes; it gets to something rap seldom achieves – a truly gorgeous groove." [16] In 2005, comedian Chris Rock named it the 10th greatest hip hop record of all time in a list published by Rolling Stone . [17]
All tracks are written by K. Mercer, D. Jolicoeur, V. Mason, P. Huston, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro" | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, L. Dickens | 0:52 |
| 2. | "Eye Patch" | 2:27 | |
| 3. | "En Focus" (featuring Shortie No Mass and Dres of Black Sheep) | 3:15 | |
| 4. | "Patti Dooke" (featuring Guru, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis) | 5:54 | |
| 5. | "I Be Blowin'" (featuring Maceo Parker) | 4:58 | |
| 6. | "Long Island Wildin'" (featuring Scha Dara Parr and Takagi Kan) | 1:30 | |
| 7. | "Ego Trippin' (Part Two)" | 3:52 | |
| 8. | "Paul's Revenge" | 0:43 | |
| 9. | "3 Days Later" | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, A. Snyder, T. George | 2:39 |
| 10. | "Area" | 3:31 | |
| 11. | "I Am I Be" (featuring Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis) | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, B. Gordy, B. Davis, F. Wilson, P. Holloway | 5:03 |
| 12. | "In the Woods" (featuring Shortie No Mass) | 4:01 | |
| 13. | "Breakadawn" | K. Mercer, D. Jolicouer, V. Mason, P. Huston, R. Jones, W. Robinson, S. Wonder, S. Greene | 4:14 |
| 14. | "Dave Has a Problem...Seriously" | 0:55 | |
| 15. | "Stone Age" (featuring Biz Markie) | 4:13 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 16. | "Sh.Fe.MC's" (featuring A Tribe Called Quest) | 04:35 |
| 17. | "Lovely How I Let My Mind Float" (featuring Biz Markie) | 04:05 |
| 18. | "Mindstate" | 03:47 |
| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [18] | 120 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [19] | 40 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [20] | 37 |
| US Billboard 200 [21] | 40 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [22] | 9 |
| Chart (2023) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [23] | 54 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) [24] | 25 |
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