| Plug Tunin' (Are You Ready for This?) | |
| Cover: | Plug Tunin'.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | De La Soul |
| Album: | 3 Feet High and Rising |
| A-Side: | "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)" (double A-side) |
| B-Side: | "Strictly Dan Stuckie" |
| Released: | June 1988 |
| Recorded: | 1988 |
| Studio: | Calliope Studios, New York City[1] |
| Genre: | Alternative hip hop |
| Length: | 3:43 |
| Label: | Tommy Boy |
| Producer: | Prince Paul, De La Soul |
| Title2: | Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes) |
| Next Title: | Jenifa (Taught Me) |
| Next Title2: | Potholes in My Lawn |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
"Plug Tunin'" (includes the subtitle "Are You Ready for This?") is a song by hip hop trio De La Soul. In June 1988 it was released as the group's debut single as part of a double A-side with "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)". A remix of the song, under the title "Plug Tunin' (Last Chance to Comprehend)", would later be included on their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising.
Lyrically, the song is idiosyncratic, however, musically it laid the foundations for the sound the group would realise more fully with their debut album.
In the end of year-roundups, the song placed at 40 in the magazine The Face list of best singles of 1988.[2] In January 1998 was included on The Sources "The 100 Best Rap Singles of All Time" list.[3] In 1999, Ego Trips editors ranked "Plug Tunin'" at 8 in their list of Hip Hop's 40 Greatest Singles by Year 1988 in Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists.[4] In 2013 was ranked by Complex at 5 on their list "The 100 Best Native Tongues Songs".[5]
De La Soul's label, Tommy Boy, offered a $500 reward for "the first person to identify a convoluted sample" on the song.[6]
Plug Tunin' has also been sampled by other artists such as Nas, Common, and the Gravediggaz' "Defective Trip", which is also produced by Prince Paul.
Lyrically, the song is idiosyncratic; "Transistors are never more shown with like / When vocal flow brings it all down in ruin / Due to a clue of a naughty noise called Plug Tunin' (Hmm-mm, hmm-mm, hmm-mm, hmm-mm, hmmmm)", however, musically it laid the foundations for the sound the group would realise more fully with their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising.