Posdnuos and Trugoy flex lyrically, but the sound is wanting on this live disc standing on the verge of delivering their shaky career-crisis album, Stakes Is High, De La Soul were nonetheless in prime form on this May night in 1996. Posdnuos and Trugoy show off an assertive, telepathic mike interplay that was notoriously missing from the group's earlier shows. Unfortunately, this is mitigated by a wack live mix; choice jams such as "Breakadawn" arrive over distant drum tracks. In a typically contrary mood, De La (and guest Mos Def) preface a brief, energetic rendition of the runaway hit "Me Myself and I" by chanting, "We hate this song!" Common also guests, bringing the Ice Cube dis "The Bitch in Yoo," although his righteous posture is undermined by some homophobic lyrics on "The Bizness." Live serves as further proof of De La's doctorate-level microphone mathematics, but its musical magic is often muffled, making it an inessential curio.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.