The Grind Date

Liberated from long-time record label Tommy Boy, De La Soul completed their original 15-year run of studio albums with 2004’s <i>The Grind Date</i>, an album where the legacy act tells the raw realities of a never-ending hustle. “I got verb skills, babies and bills,” Posdnous raps on an album about label gripes, “white-collar dreams” and basically treating rap like a job. (As Trugoy the Dove says, “I’m coal-mining these mics to keep that gold nugget.”) And, for the first time, they opened a majority of an album to outside producers, enlisting J Dilla, Madlib, 9th Wonder and Jake One, whose unlikely decelerating beat on “Rock Co.Kane Flow” is the album’s highlight. A 20th anniversary reissue released in 2025 (yes, that’s 21 years, but De La Soul have never had an easy time getting their music out when they preferred) restores a skit and a handful of extra tracks and instrumental versions.