Plug Tunin'

"Plug Tunin' (Are You Ready for This?)"
Single by De La Soul
from the album 3 Feet High and Rising
A-side	"Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)" (double A-side)
B-side	"Strictly Dan Stuckie"
Released	June 1988
Recorded	1988
Studio	Calliope Studios, New York City [1]
Genre	Alternative hip hop
Length	3:43
Label	Tommy Boy
Songwriter(s)	Kelvin Mercer David Jolicoeur [2]
Producer(s)	Prince Paul, De La Soul
De La Soul singles chronology
"Plug Tunin' (Are You Ready for This?)" / "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)" (1988) "Jenifa (Taught Me)" / "Potholes in My Lawn" (1988)

"Plug Tunin'" (includes the subtitle "Are You Ready for This?") is a song by hip hop trio De La Soul. In June 1988 it was released as the group's debut single as part of a double A-side with "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)". A remix of the song, under the title "Plug Tunin' (Last Chance to Comprehend)", would later be included on their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising .

Lyrically, the song is idiosyncratic, however, musically it laid the foundations for the sound the group would realise more fully with their debut album.

In the end of year-roundups, the song placed at No. 40 in the magazine The Face list of best singles of 1988. ^[3] In January 1998 was included on The Source 's "The 100 Best Rap Singles of All Time" list. ^[4] In 1999, Ego Trip 's editors ranked "Plug Tunin'" at No. 8 in their list of Hip Hop's 40 Greatest Singles by Year 1988 in Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists. ^[5] In 2013 was ranked by Complex at No. 5 on their list "The 100 Best Native Tongues Songs". ^[6]

Sampling

De La Soul's label, Tommy Boy, offered a $500 reward for "the first person to identify a convoluted sample" on the song. ^[7]

"Plug Tunin'" has also been sampled by other artists such as Nas, Common, and the Gravediggaz' "Defective Trip", which is also produced by Prince Paul.

Conception and composition

Lyrically, the song is idiosyncratic; "Transistors are never more shown with like / When vocal flow brings it all down in ruin / Due to a clue of a naughty noise called Plug Tunin' (Hmm-mm, hmm-mm, hmm-mm, hmm-mm, hmmmm)", however, musically it laid the foundations for the sound the group would realise more fully with their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising .

Track listing

1. "Plug Tunin' (Are You Ready for This?)" – 3:41
2. "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)" – 2:52
3. "Freedom of Speak (We Got More Than Three)" – 4:16
4. "Plug Tunin' (Something's Wrong Here)" – 3:10
5. "Strictly Dan Stuckie" – 0:38

References

1. "De La Soul 3 Feet High..." Hi-Fi News & Record Review (website). April 22, 2022. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
2. "ASCAP Repertory entry for this song". ASCAP . Retrieved March 13, 2023.
3. "Rocklist.net ...  ... The Face Recordings Of The Year ..." rocklistmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on February 16, 2006. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
4. "100 Best Singles: The Top Hip-Hop Songs of All Time". The Source . No. 100. New York. January 1998. p. 32. ISSN   1063-2085.
5. Jenkins, Sacha; Elliott Wilson; Chairman Mao; Gabriel Alvarez; Brent Rollins (1999). Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN   9781466866973.
6. "The 100 Best Native Tongues Songs". Complex . May 25, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
7. Richard Harrington. "De La Soul's Mind-Bending Rap". The Washington Post .