AOI: Bionix

Artist: De La Soul
Label: Tommy Boy
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Explicit Lyrics
Media: LP Record
Number Of Discs: 2

UPC: 016998136218
EAN: 0016998136218
ASIN: B00005RGMP

Release Date: 2001-12-04

AOI: Bionix

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East Coast

| Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music

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East Coast

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Tracks:

Intro
Bionix
Baby Phat - Yummy Bingham, De La Soul, Devin, Devin the Dude
Simply
Simply Havin
Held Down
Reverend Do Good #1
Watch Out - De La Soul,
Special - Yummy Bingham, De La Soul
Reverend Do Good #2
Sauce - De La Soul,
Am I Worth You?
Pawn Star - De La Soul, Jason Spears
What We Do (For Love) - De La Soul, Slick Rick, Soulstice
Reverend Do Good #3
Peer Pressure - B Real, , De La Soul
It's American
Trying People

Similar Items:

Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump
Stakes Is High
Buhloone Mindstate
De La Soul Is Dead
The Grind Date

Amazon.com

In the De La Soul diet, AOI: Bionix is a solid hip-hop meal--no fancy turntablism and few fluffy comedy sketches, just down-home beats and rhymes served straight up. Bionix is a mellow, intelligent album that aims to educate and get a laid-back party groove on at the same time. "Baby Phat" is a note to all the ladies that those couple extra pounds only mean there's more of them to love, and "Held Down" takes on a new, post-Septempter 11 relevance with the lyrics "And when I'm watching the news / And my daughter walk in / To choose to ask / 'Why were all the people on the floor, sleeping, covered in red?' / I told her, 'They came lookin' for God but found religion instead.'" Of course, De La Soul aren't comfortable preaching for too long, and at the other end of the spectrum lie sex and drug duds like "Pawn Star" (featuring Shell Council) and "Peer Pressure" (featuring Cypress Hill's B Real) that flog their subject matter dead. Even with a couple weak offerings, though, Bionix is more on par than subpar. The album's mix of gospel, funk, and hip-hop comes to a head on "Trying People," a soothing balm of a song about trying to make life a little less complicated. --Jennifer Maerz

Album Description

Long-awaited 2nd installment of the Art Official Intelligence trilogy, from Tommy Boy Records.

Customer Reviews:

Hip-hop for truly mature audiences only........2005-04-20

I find that the main things about "getting" De La Soul's brand of hip-hop are:

1. They are cerebral rappers, forcing you to thorougly chew their lyrics before mental-digestion in order to understand their perspective.

2. At the time of this writing, they are well into their 30s (Pos was born "Out of the heavens August one-seven, sixty-nine... ") and have been in the game for 16 years, almost unheard of today (outside of LL, Dr. Dre, Snoop, and a few others, who even comes close).

Accordingly, they tend to rhyme about things that their peers can relate to, especially if said peers are trying to "make it" in life. Unfortunately for De La - like Dave says in Bionix - they have had to "get on that ol' bulls--t" to get the later generations used to their flow.

My take? This is one of their better efforts, though it does not crack the the top three for me*. I won't go into detail about the tracks, except to say that I regard "Held Down" and "Tryin' People" as two of the finest songs I've heard recently. Many won't get the cleverness of "Peer Pressure", or the satire of the (overly?) explicit "Pawn Star", and will criticize the R&B-tainted "Special", but you can't please all the people all the time.

Bottom line: if you fit the demographic, or don't but appreciate the music of those that do, then pick up the CD. The more you listen, the more you will appreciate it.

* My preference:

1. "De La Soul Is Dead": outstanding ode to how De La Soul as everyone knew them (DaISY Age) was no more; clever, witty, though some of the skits went over the heads of those outside of the NY tri-state area, or those that don't know of De La's background (i.e., they used to work at Burger King... )

2. "Buhloone Mind State": severly under-rated recording that comments on what's wrong in the hip-hop industry; sadly, still applicable today. So on-point, that Tommy Boy didn't know how to promote it! ("It might blow-up but it won't go 'pop'")

3. "Three Feet High & Rising": only rated number three because I don't play it as much anymore; the first, the innovative, the album some people are STILL trying to understand after 16 years.

4. "AOI: Bionix, Part 2"

5. "Stakes Is High" - the first post-Prince Paul production, where De La tries re-establish themselves; weak in spots, but overall quite good, especially cameos from Common & Mos Def.

5 stars to make up for unfair, ignorant low marks.......2005-01-12

Okay, maybe this album by De La Soul is closer to a 4, but it is still very strong. In 2001, De La quietly dropped this second installment in the AOI series after the first one garnered them some long-lost mainstream attention the year before. This is being called by many here as 'their worst album,' and if this is so, it only shows how incredible their catalog is. I mean, really, Posdnous and Dave are MC'in at as high a level as they ever have for the majority of this showing. The production, MOSTLY handled by Dave West and De La themselves, is entertaining and outstanding on a few tracks.
I can see a reason for the choice low grades because people were disgusted by the track "Pawn Star." I wasn't feeling it either, but this track is just like "De La Orgee" only with some explicit lyrics. I think nobody expected this from such upstanding individuals at this stage in their career. Nobody seemed to complain about "Orgee" of their debut album, but everybody seemed to be fainting in light of "Pawn Star." Sure, I know there's some hidden joke behind it, which isn't necessary, so it should have been left off. De La should simply get a slap on the wrist for this, but we shouldn't be calling for their heads. I can see if people didn't like the controversial "Peer Pressure"(w/ B-Real). I liked it, though, especially how Pos keeps his head admist the pressure from B-Real and Maseo. It's obvious that this track is like reverse-psychology regarding smoking weed. It's trying to demonstrate how smokers try to get others to join with them because they are lonely and empty. Then De La really takes a shot at smokers with the following interlude, "It's American."
As a whole, we witness De La taking it to their highest soulful and inspirational level with the three standout tracks, "Held Down,"(ft. Cee-Lo) "Am I Worth You,"(ft. Glenn Lewis) and "Trying People." All three rank among De La's greatest works. "Held Down" especially for Posdnous' lyrics and the choir, and "Trying People" because it is moving(and humbling). I am hypnotized by the beautiful surreal and melodic beat of "Am I Worth You"(prod. by Dave West) which should make Pete Rock happy. The chorus is hit-or-miss. I like it.
Otherwise, the title track starts it all off and is awesome, especially Pos' verse("if I ever joined a gang, it would be Gang Starr" etc.) The main single "Baby Phat"(ft. Devin the Dude and Yummy) is a little lusty, but smooth and memorable. The racy "What We Do (For Love)" with fellow old-schooler Slick Rick is similar, but I can see if some are turned off by this song. "Special"(ft. Yummy) is nice. It has sincere lyrics by Dave and Pos, but it might be one R&B chorus too-much. "Watch Out" has a unique hook and really gets rolling with Dave and Pos' second verses on the song, while "The Sauce" is a slick, short song with Philly Black that is satisfying. "Simply" is one of the great tracks here. It's upbeat and a little poppy, but calls upon the vibes of a "Me Myself & I" to liven the mood.
De La shows signs of the "De La Soul Is Dead" days with the Reverand Do Good skits, and especially the "It's American" skit. They do some uncanny solo joints like Pos on "Held Down," the one-verse of "Simply Havin,"(a short update of A Tribe Called Quest's "Footprints") and Maseo, B-Real, and Pos without Dave on "Peer Pressure." Just Dave and Shell Council participate in the infamous "Pawn Star." In case y'all didn't notice, De La was taking a different direction as always with "AOI: Bionix." You don't just have to be a blind De La fan to enjoy this, you just have to know your Hiphop music. Like all their others, this album is essential because of it's creativity and unique place in the De La catalog. It quickly went out of print due to the low-marketing and the collapse of Tommy Boy. The overall soul and insight put this cd over the top, and make your quickly forget about the couple controversial songs. HEADS: don't sleep, realize that this De La album may be hard to find, but it definitely deserves your time!

Where are the real fans?.......2004-10-18

First of all, being a fan doesn't mean you blindly follow. It means that you recognize their talent, creativity & hard work. De La blew my mind with this album. Those of you that didn't like Pawn Star have no sense of humor & wouldn't get satire if it pimp-slapped you in the face. The B-Real track is one of my favorites in their entire catalog. It is a joke guys, open your ears. Anyway, I thought the previous album was a little uneven & it didn't get a lot of play from me but I played this album @ least 200x in my car. Some of the hooks are as good as anything I've heard in 20 yrs. You all need to take 2 more listens & apologize for your reviews.

There's a very good reason this is out of print........2004-02-15

I'll keep this short and sweet.

Simply is a pretty good track, while Held Down, Baby Phat, and Bionix are OK. Coming into track 9 (Special,) I was pretty surprised how decent this CD was turning out to be. However, by the closing of the aforementioned track, the album took a nose dive that it would never come back from. All of the badness in Bionix culminates in what is quite possibly the worst song of all time, Pawn Star. Extra disrespect goes to Simply Havin, which uses the exact same sample as in ATCQ's "Footprints." One would think that they're familiar with Tribe's material, but whatever.

For the most part, this CD is garbage and doesn't hold up to De La's standards in the least. Perhaps you could buy Simply and Held Down on ITunes, but buying the CD as a whole is a complete waste of money. It certainly isn't worth the 14 bucks I spent for it.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music CD

Up the Lazy River ~ Various Artists

Signs of Life ~ Bob Mamet

Christy Doran, Fredy Studer, Phil Minton, Django Bates, Amin Ali Play The Music Of Jimi Hendrix ~ Ch

Is Love Enough? ~ George Duke

Carry on ~ Flora Purim

Change ~ Chick Corea, Origin

Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 12 ~ Barry Harris

La Rebelion de los Hombres Rana ~ El Ultimo de La Fila

16 Grandes Exitos ~ Los Baron de Apodaca

Fifteen Grandes Exitos ~ Osvaldo Fresedo