De La Soul - Live at Tramps, NYC, 1996

From the days of the earliest Cold Crush battle tapes, live hip-hop on record has been a sketchy proposition. There's simply no way to transmit the energy and community feeling of a live show onto wax or tape or disc, and sludgy audio quality has rarely convinced anyone other than the hardcore to risk an investment. For reasons unknown, De La Soul, those ambassadors of hip-hop exuberance despite their professorial inclinations, were gifted by Tommy Boy/Rhino with a release of one of their live shows -- a May 13, 1996, gig at Tramps in New York City. Read More