Dave spits, "Meat grind, street grind, whatever the beast/ I'ma take it at the horns til the pinky toe calls." Pos and Maceo's flexibility is uncanny as they retrofit their cadences to swing tracks into coalescence.
The title track serves as the album's centerpiece as Pos and Dave command the mic with authority and finesse. Of course, De La delivers their lyrical goods via FreshDirect with the comfort and ease of well-seasoned veterans. Even Ghostface displays a moment of weakness when he struggles to match the triumphant brass on Supa Dave West's "He Comes" (although Tony Sparks does manage to reclaim his stature with shoutouts to Uday and Qusay). The ghostly keys and muted snare so effectively captivate the listener that Pos, Maceo, and Dave are willingly obscured. On "Verbal Clap", Jay Dee pushes a sparse, apocalyptic swirl that lacks his trademark sound but buzzes with intensity. The Grind Date inherits that project's propensity for organic production, as De La often wisely let the beats steep. The third installment of the Art Official Intelligence series was envisioned as a DJ album before Tommy Boy canned it. But frequent De La collaborator Supa Dave West's opening volley only serves as the jumpoff for a producer home run derby, and De La Soul wisely allow their all-county beatmaking team (Madlib, 9th Wonder, Jay Dee, and the aforementioned Supa Dave, among others) to craft a vehicle on which the trio can again revamp their style. Moreover, any album that kicks off with Jermaine Jackson's handiwork has genius written all over it. Let's be honest: Anything Matthew Knowles (responsible for his booty-hopping progeny Beyonce and owner of De La's new home Sanctuary Union) touches, is vinyl dynamite. The triumvirate averages three years between albums- stemming and refitting their dark horse costumes is hardly an overnight project- but the results are frequently worth the wait, and The Grind Date is the group's best payoff in ages. After 15 years, many observers wondered when their DiMaggio-like fresh streak would die.
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