It's rare that hip-hop artists who became known sixteen years ago would have their music referred to as "fresh" or "innovative".  They're usually known as old-fashioned, unescapibly preachy, and stuck in their ways.  Of course, none of those phrases describe the hip-hop group that defines innovation, De La Soul.  The men who perfected the hip-hop concept album come back with brilliant, vibrant producers whose new concepts and breathtaking styles mesh amazingly well with the flavorful stylings of Posdunous, Trugoy (Now known as just Dave), and Maseo.  Instead of turning in a third volume in their Art Official Intelligence series of albums (rather, the third AOI album is due next year), they instead got back to that strictly hip-hop on The Grind Date.

De La blast open the album with the excellent prophecy, "The Future".  Supa Dave West's pop sampling and perfect bassline help Dave and Pos tell the story of hip-hop.  Virtuoso producer J Dilla (formerly known as Jay Dee) provides the pounding track for "Verbal Clap", an exercise in blending the past with the future.  Dilla even provides a Scott Storch-esque violin, recalling Storch's summer work, if you know what I'm talking about.  However, Dilla underwhelms on "Much More", a walk through the type of beats Dilla has patented, or rather, overdone.  Madlib soon makes the  should-have-been summer banger with the utterly excellent "Shopping Bags", a funky groove which features glass bottles as percussion.  Pos switches the flow to a more fun-loving type of classic De La, while Dave details how females are just out for one thing.  Jake One blows the roof off with the brilliant title-track, where Pos brings a refreshing new spin to the tired tale of grinding with lines like, "Gotta get your polly cracker on/ with them crackas/ and them sheisty-ass niggas/ if ya like it or not".  While the album is almost faultless up to this point, the Plugs still have not even showed their potential for brilliance in the new millenium.

North Carolina beatsmith and soon-to-be-superproducer 9th Wonder makes De La seem like they're the youngest, hungriest rappers alive on "Church".  Posdunous basically applies for the G.O.A.T. position (Ex. "You oughta try stepping outside ya one day/ you circle round yourself like you da answer/ to the question of your inner self/ but keep the falsehoods to a minimum"), and Spike Lee delivers a well-spoken intro which gives him more credibility then he could have ever given the song.  While "It's Like That" with Carl Thomas is a step below the rest of the album, it is far from bad in any way.  Pos and Dave get a Dave West beat full of more soul than a sock with a hole, and they invite the most soulful MC alive to join them on "He Comes".  Ghostface delivers his Pretty Toney persona to it's fullest, and stands pretty comfortably with Pos and Dave, who delivers the line of the song with, "I circumcize the track/ you just a dick".  Pos and Common sound like they positively belong on the piano-heavy "Days of Our Lives", as Pos proves he can stand his own with any MC alive.  De La gets the greatest hypeman of all-time, and current Surreal Life star, Flava Flav to jump all over "Come On Down", a hilarious, exuberant banger where Pos stacks his verse with wit, like "Wonderin why, ya'll can't stand me/ is it because I'm the main Jackson/ and ya'll just Titos and Randys".  On "No", they prove their superior ability to tell those inspirational tunes that Talib Kweli and Just Blaze seem to have perfected in the new generation.  Pos also turns in the album's quotable on "No": "If ya are what ya eat/ some of ya'll cats head's between your girl's legs a lot cause ya'll actin sweet".  After an album of near perfection, De La still is not done.  They grab Jake One and have him deliver a guitar-powered head nodder, and then lose their minds by hiring the best underground MC alive for "Rock Co.Kane Flow".  MF DOOM ("Just remember all caps when you spell the man name") proves he is a living legend wnext to Dave and Pos, as they make the equivalent of an indie "Verbal Intercourse".  This album peaks at the end, something pretty much every album tries to do.

While most MCs from the golden age make convential, almost "safe" music, De La fears no twist and turn of the 21st century.  Most MCs, much less 16-year veterans, would fear getting outshined on songs with top lyricists like Ghost, MF, & Common.  These men obviously are scared of nothing, and The Grind Date is quintessential De La.  Making their best album since 1996 (Stakes is High), it's pretty evident De La Soul is not dead.

iPod Worthy: "Church", "Rock Co.Kane Flow", "Shopping Bags", "The Grind Date", "He Comes"

Skippable: "Much More"

Overall: 5.5 out of Six Shots