An eclectic genre mashup with an enviable roster of guests, And The Anonymous Nobody… bristles with creative rebirth and more than a touch of hard-earned, “we’re back” braggadocio.
It’s their most musically ambitious record ever and their best since Buhloone Mind State way back in ’93, eclectic with the beats and gnomic with the wit, and it serves as a heartening rejoinder to the emotional and intellectual thinness of most of even the best current hip-hop.
While they may have had to sacrifice a little of what we love them for, there’s no doubt that this a satisfying, De La Soul-ful comeback from the Long Island Trio.
For the most part, it’s an approach that reaps rich rewards, yielding some of De La’s most interesting and adventurous work for some time.
Impressive as that range of collaborations might be, some of the LP's very best tracks feature founding members Posdnous, Dave and Maseo all on their own.
While they may have had to sacrifice a little of what we love them for, there’s no doubt that this a satisfying, De La Soul-ful comeback from the Long Island Trio.
Exhausting, ridiculous and full of life, De La Soul still do it like no-one else.
And The Anonymous Nobody is a more than worthy edition to their legacy, proving how relevant this treasure of a band is.
The strength of and the Anonymous Nobody… remains how it holds together as a complete, cohesive listen.
And the Anonymous Nobody is an album that, though lacking in congruence, displays De La’s staying power.
Their greatest strength has always been not caring what hip-hop is supposed to sound like.
Tying together this kaleidoscopic roster is a credit to De La Soul as curators, but the leftfield appeal of these guests undermines the group's effort at a fully reflective and personal album—however enthralling it makes the ride.
While Anonymous Nobody is a brave departure from the sample-heavy triumphs in their past, at times it feels a bit too contrived, too far away from a De La Soul statement.
The tasteful outnumbers the ridiculous throughout the record, and if you don’t expect tectonic shifts in the way live-band hip-hop beats sound, the cumulative effect is at least thoroughly pleasant.
it's nice to hear De La Soul stretching themselves creatively, and even the less successful detours are interesting additions to an already eclectic catalogue.
The way Pos and Dave rap, letting rhymes spill over bar intervals and beyond, is the biggest pleasure, and the straightforward hip-hop tracks such as Pain and Property of Spitkicker.com are perhaps the best.
It’s a good comeback for De La Soul, and there’s plenty to really enjoy here, but there are too many occasions where tracks loiter for too long, not outstaying their welcome as such, just not doing a great deal with it.
It’s only in the moments with somebody else in the driving seat that The Anonymous Nobody shines ... The rest is trapped somewhere between past and present; never quite “classic” De La Soul, save for a few standout tracks, yet attempts to invent and look forward are often left feeling flat and sometimes, just out of place.
If they had stuck with what they do best, it would have been one of their stronger albums. As it is, it's a bit of a confused mess that needs some serious editing.
There are enough highlights to make And the Anonymous Nobody worth revisiting, but as a whole, the album is just barely above average.
While favouring a new jazz-inflected sound, at its best the record recalls the laid-back beats of ‘Stakes is High’ and the lyrical wit and off-the-wall humour of ‘3 Feet High’.
The hip-hop legends’ inharmonious makeover has left an assortment of intangible, cloudy compositions.
10+ years after their last notable release, De La Soul is back to be their normal, quirky, campy selves. It's a solid record with fun features in a vacuum, but pales in comparison when you realize their brothers in Tribe dropped a *much* better comeback record the same year. This like most of De La's best work is not a one-listen album, I'd recommend a few times through the tracklist to get a better idea on it - took me 2-3 plays to really gauge how I felt. More guitars then I expected lol.
2016 saw the return of the 2 biggest hippy rap groups, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, and although Tribe's return was an excellent and highly celebrated release, unfortunately, the same cannot be said for De La. This album is just a mess and mixed bag of songs that don't really feel connected or even all that good, this feels like a drag.
Best Track: Memory of... (US)
Worst Track: Genesis (Intro)
While De La's final album as a group wasn't as amazing as their first four or The Grind Date, I quite enjoy the direction they went in, especially when they experiment with other genres. While it wasn't always GREAT, it kept me interested front to back.
Best Tracks: Royalty Capes, Pain, Memory of... (US), Whoodeeni, Nosed Up
Worst Tracks: Snoopies, Drawn
a mixed bag and hugely inconsistent for me tbh, 70 is about right because there are some great songs on here.
Definitely my least favorite project they've dropped even with some great features and Pete rock on Production it just did not click one bit in my eyes.
1 | Genesis 1:36 feat. Jill Scott | 90 |
2 | Royalty Capes 3:46 | 82 |
3 | Pain 4:39 feat. Snoop Dogg | 93 |
4 | Property of Spitkicker.com 5:32 feat. Roc Marciano | 74 |
5 | Memory of... (US) 4:55 | 81 |
6 | CBGB's 1:20 | 82 |
7 | Lord Intended 7:16 feat. Justin Hawkins | 75 |
8 | Snoopies 4:15 feat. David Byrne | 86 |
9 | Greyhounds 5:26 feat. Usher | 87 |
10 | Sexy Bitch 1:31 | 58 |
11 | Trainwreck 3:17 | 75 |
12 | Drawn 5:33 feat. Little Dragon | 73 |
13 | Whoodeeni 4:31 feat. 2 Chainz | 84 |
14 | Nosed Up 3:57 | 83 |
15 | You Go Dave (A Goldblatt Presentation) 1:20 feat. David Goldblatt | 80 |
16 | Here in After 5:41 feat. Damon Albarn | 84 |
17 | Exodus 3:24 | 85 |
#12 | / | Fopp |
#15 | / | Albumism |
#15 | / | The Times / The Sunday Times |
#32 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#44 | / | Double J |
#45 | / | PopMatters |
#91 | / | Piccadilly Records |