The Grind Date

Hip-hop has no retirement plan; its stars are generally put to pasture before their 35th birthdays. But De La Soul—whose masterful 1989 debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, set a new creative bar—are raging against the dying of the light. While no longer in hip-hop's vanguard, the Long Island trio's latest repeatedly stakes out De La's territory as both elder statesmen and still-relevant movers. And they ride some interesting beats here: West Coast underground alchemist Madlib conjures a deliciously mangled groove for "Shopping Bags"; a slick, '70s soul vibe runs beneath "Church" and "He Comes"; and Flavor Flav shows he can still kick up some dust, shouting and cackling along to the stuttering "Come on Down." One particularly pointed lyric on the album's dark, pulsing finale, "Rock Co. Kane Flow," crystallizes their current situation: "Everyone cools off from being hot/It's about if you can handle being cold or not." Looks like De La can.