Posdnuos, Trugoy the Dove, and Maseo emerged from Long Island in 1988 with an eclectic, deeply sampled sound and a wardrobe of daisies that got them wrongly tagged 'hippies' — 3 Feet High and Rising (1989) reinvented what a hip-hop record could sample and joke about in the same breath. As founding members of the Native Tongues collective, they helped open space for hip-hop that was playful, literate, and unconcerned with gangsta rap's rules. Their influence runs through nearly every alternative and jazz-rap act that followed.

the sound in question

1989

Me Myself and IDe La Soul