After lots of fretting, pacing, and hmmmmm-ing, Planetarium is relieved and excited to inform you all that De La Soul's latest release, The Grind Date, is everyting we hoped for and more. We seem to be falling in line with a number of other critics on this one, but it's true: the new album ranks right up there among the strongest things they've ever done. Now, don't get us wrong, 3 Feet High and Rising is a landmark hip-hop album, and will probably never be equaled by them again. (Admittedly, it's a little tough to completely reinvent a genre more than once in your lifetime.) But for our money, this soars past even such greats as 1996's Stakes Is High. And for a group that's been at it for over 15 years, that's really saying something. We usually reserve this kind of way-late-in-the-game comeback for folks like Philip Roth. Happily, it seems the De La boys decided to one-up the "twilight-of-their-career" award that was earmarked for The Plot Against America. From start to finish, this release stomps over its territory with the confidence of a Shaq. Whereas 2002's Bionix had the sound of a group wondering how the hell they were going to handle this getting-old thing, Grind Date is marked by a sense of control, skill, and perhaps most surprisingly, exuberance. Allow us to suggest that by jettisoning the deadline of finishing Art Official Intelligence: Volume Three (the planned 2003 release that was scrapped), and giving themselves time, De La Soul reclaimed their passion, and remembered why it was they loved dropping rhymes in the first place. Hats off, gents- and to the rest of you, go buy the album.