Stakes Is High by De La Soul
Stakes Is High by De La Soul

Stakes Is High

De La Soul * Track #17 On Stakes Is High

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Stakes Is High by De La Soul

Release Date
Tue Jul 02 1996
Performed by
De La Soul
Produced by
J Dilla & De La Soul
Writed by
J Dilla & Posdnuos & Trugoy the Dove & James Brown & Fred Wesley & Ahmad Jamal & Charles Bobbit & Maseo
About

The climactic point of De La Soul’s “Stakes is High” album serves as a criticism to the state of the world in 1996, along with a declaration that the Native Tongues are back in effect. A very sobering, serious track that differs vastly from the playful music that De La Soul has always been known for...

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Stakes Is High Lyrics

[Chorus: Posdnous]
Vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high
You know them stakes is high
When we talkin' 'bout the vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high
You know them stakes is high
We be talkin' 'bout vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high
You know them stakes is high

[Verse 1: Posdnous]
The instamatic focal point bringin' damage to your borough (Uh-huh)
Be some brothers from the East with them beats that be thorough
Got the solar gravitation, so I'm bound to pull it
I gets down like brothers are found duckin' from bullets (Word)
Gun control means usin' both hands in my land (Yeah)
Where it's all about the cautious livin' (Uh-huh)
Migratin' to a higher form of consequence
Compliments of strugglin' that shouldn't be notable
Man, every word I say should be a Hip-Hop Quotable

[Verse 2: Trugoy the Dove]
I'm sick of bitches shakin' asses
I'm sick of talkin' 'bout blunts, sick of Versace glasses
Sick of slang, sick of half-ass awards shows
Sick of name-brand clothes (Word)
Sick of R&B bitches over bullshit tracks (Heard)
Cocaine and crack, which brings sickness to blacks
Sick of swoll'-head rappers with they sickenin' raps
Clappers of gats, makin' the whole sick world collapse
The facts are gettin' sicker, even sicker, perhaps (Sicker, perhaps)
I Stickabush to make a bundle to escape this synapse

[Verse 3: Posdnous]
Man, life can get all up in your ass, baby, you better work it out (Haha, haha)
Now let me tell you what it's all about (Uh-huh)
A skin not considered equal
A meteor has more right than my people
Who be wastin' time screamin' who they've hated (Word)
That's why the Native Tongues has officially been reinstated

[Chorus: Posdnous]
Vibe, vibrations
Yeah
Stakes is high (Higher than high)
You know them stakes is high (Higher than high)
When we talkin' 'bout vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high (Higher than high)
Y'all know them stakes is high
When we dealin' with the vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high
Man, them stakes is high (Ayo, what about that love?)

[Verse 4: Posdnous]
Yo, it's about love of cars, love of funds
Lovin' to love mad sex, lovin' to love guns
Love for opposite, love for fame and wealth
Love for the fact of no longer lovin' yourself, kid (Uh-huh)
We livin' in them days of the man-made craze where every aspect is vivid (Word)
These brothers no longer talk shit, ayo, these niggas live it
'Bout to give it to you 24/7 on the microphone
Plug One translatin' the zone (Plug One, Plug One, y'all)
No offense to a player, but, yo, I don't play
Nigga take offense, fuck it, got to be that way (What's up? What's up? What's up?)
JD Dove, show your love, what you got to say?

[Verse 5: Trugoy the Dove]
I say G's are makin' figures at a high regard
And niggas dyin' for it nowadays ain't odd (It ain't odd)
Investin' in fantasies and not God (What?)
Welcome to reality, see, times is hard
People try to snatch the credit, but can't claim the card
Showin' out in videos, sayin' they costarred (Ayo)
See, shit like that'll make your mama cry (Yeah)
Better watch the way you spend it 'cause the stakes is high (Word up)

[Chorus: Posdnous]
You know them stakes is high (Uh-huh)
When you're dealin' with the vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high (Come on)
Man, them stakes is high (Check it)

[Verse 6: Trugoy the Dove & Posdnous]
I think that smilin' in public is against the law (What?)
'Cause love don't get you through life no more
It's who you know and, "How you, son?"
And how you gettin' in, and who the man holdin' heat, yo
And how was the skins, and how high
Yo, what up, huh? I heard you caught a body
Seem like every man and woman shared a life with John Gotti
But they ain't organized
Mixin' crimes with life enzymes
Takin' the big scalp route
And niggas know doubt better than they know they daughters and they sons (Oh, boy)

[Verse 7: Posdnous]
Yo, people go through pain and still don't gain
Positive contact, just like my main man
Who got others cleanin' up his physical and fluids (Uh-huh)
His mind got congested, he got the nine and blew it
Neighborhoods are now hoods 'cause nobody's neighbors
Just animals survivin' with that animal behavior (Damn)
Under I who be rhymin' from dark to light sky (Sky)
Experiments where needles and skin connect (Yeah)
No wonder where we live is called the projects
When them stakes is high, you damn sure try
To do anything to get the piece of the pie
Electrify, even die for the cash
But at last, you be out even though you wantin' more
This issue is closed like an elevator door
But soon reopened once we get to the next floor, where the (What's that? Uh, the—)

[Chorus: Posdnous]
Vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high (Higher than high)
You know them stakes is high
When you dealin' with the vibe, vibrations
Stakes is high (Higher than high)
Stakes is high (Come on)
Vibe, vibrations

Stakes Is High Q&A

Who wrote Stakes Is High's ?

Stakes Is High was written by J Dilla & Posdnuos & Trugoy the Dove & James Brown & Fred Wesley & Ahmad Jamal & Charles Bobbit & Maseo.

Who produced Stakes Is High's ?

Stakes Is High was produced by J Dilla & De La Soul.

When did De La Soul release Stakes Is High?

De La Soul released Stakes Is High on Tue Jul 02 1996.

How did De La Soul get a J Dilla beat for this song?

Maseo told Okayplayer that Q-Tip played Posdnuos
the “Stakes is High” beat and Pos pretended to be unimpressed to try and secure it.

Tip is playing this new beat for Pos from Dilla and based on the history that those two have, anytime Pos gave a head nod to some shit, Q-Tip ended up keeping the bea...

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What did De La Soul say about "Stakes Is High"?

I think that the energy we put into that song was similar to that of what Marvin Gaye put into “What’s Going On.” I look back on people like that and think about how they had that moment of clarity, where they looked around them and at things decaying in their society–whether it’s music or life, tha...

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