AOI: Bionix is De La Soul's

De La Soul

De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...

 sixth full-length album, released in 2001. The album was the second in a planned three-disc installment, which was originally intended to be a three-disc album.

Overview

The first single, "Baby Phat" featuring Yummy Bingham

Yummy Bingham

Elizabeth T. Wyce Bingham a.k.a. Yummy is an American R&B/hip hop singer, songwriter. She sings soprano with a 4 octave range.-Biography:Elizabeth "Yummy" Bingham was born on January 7, 1986 to Dinky Bingham and Patricia Wyce...

 and Devin the Dude

Devin the Dude

Devin Copeland , better known by his stage name, Devin the Dude, is a Houston hip hop artist, and rapper. He is best known for his unique rapping style, his long career signed to Rap-A-Lot Records, and his 2002 song, "Lacville '79"....

, was an ode to larger sized women. Elsewhere, "Held Down", featuring Cee-Lo

Cee-Lo

Thomas DeCarlo Callaway , better known by his stage name Cee Lo Green, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor...

, found Posdnuos in an introspective mood as he mused on fatherhood, religion, and fame. Slick Rick

Slick Rick

Richard Walters , better known by his stage name Slick Rick is a Grammy-nominated English-American rapper...

 also made an appearance on "Things We Do (For Love)"; a humorous song about puberty and sexual discovery. Plans were made to release the Kev Brown-produced "Special" (featuring Yummy Bingham

Yummy Bingham

Elizabeth T. Wyce Bingham a.k.a. Yummy is an American R&B/hip hop singer, songwriter. She sings soprano with a 4 octave range.-Biography:Elizabeth "Yummy" Bingham was born on January 7, 1986 to Dinky Bingham and Patricia Wyce...

) as the second single, however Tommy Boy

Tommy Boy Records

Tommy Boy Entertainment is an independent record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman.-History:...

 soon folded as a label, cutting short any further promotion of Bionix. Like many Hip-Hop albums, there is an official instrumental version of the album available on vinyl, with artwork.

Interludes

The album featured skits with a character by the name of "Reverend Do Good". The skits worked as social commentary as well as the intros and outros to the songs. The final Reverend Do Good skit acts as one final advertisement for "Ghost Weed" as heard on De La Soul's previous LP, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump

Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump

Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump is De La Soul's fifth full-length studio album, released on August 8, 2000.- Overview :The album was the first in a planned three-disc installment, which was originally intended to be a three-disc album...

. A mischievous teenager takes a hit of the substance, then morphs into Slum Village

Slum Village

Slum Village was a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan.The group was formed by three members: rappers Baatin and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla . J Dilla left in 2002 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records...

 frontman J Dilla

J Dilla

James Dewitt Yancey , better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan...

, who provides the intro and outro to the marijuana-themed song "Peer Pressure" (which he also produces).

Track listing

1. "Intro" – 0:29
   • Produced by Def 2 U
   • Contains sample of "Black Patch" performed by The 5th Dimension
2. "Bionix" – 2:43
   • Produced by Supa Dave West
   • Contains sample of "Guiding Star" performed by Tavares
3. "Baby Phat
   Baby Phat (song)
   "Baby Phat" is the only official single from De La Soul's sixth studio album, AOI: Bionix, released in late 2001. The song was produced by Dave West and featured vocals from Devin the Dude and Yummy Bingham...
   
   " – 3:50
   • Featuring Devin the Dude
     Devin the Dude
     Devin Copeland , better known by his stage name, Devin the Dude, is a Houston hip hop artist, and rapper. He is best known for his unique rapping style, his long career signed to Rap-A-Lot Records, and his 2002 song, "Lacville '79"....
     
      and Yummy Bingham
     Yummy Bingham
     Elizabeth T. Wyce Bingham a.k.a. Yummy is an American R&B/hip hop singer, songwriter. She sings soprano with a 4 octave range.-Biography:Elizabeth "Yummy" Bingham was born on January 7, 1986 to Dinky Bingham and Patricia Wyce...
     
     
   • Produced by Supa Dave West
4. "Simply" – 4:05
   • Produced by Supa Dave West
   • Contains sample of "Wonderful Christmastime
     Wonderful Christmastime
     "Wonderful Christmastime" is a 1979 Christmas song by Paul McCartney. It enjoys significant Christmas time popularity around the world. The notable synthesiser riff was played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. The song was later added as a bonus track on the CD reissue of Wings' Back to the Egg...
     
     " performed by Paul McCartney
     Paul McCartney
     Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
     
     
5. "Simply Havin'" – 0:48
   • Contains a sample of "Footprints" by A Tribe Called Quest
     A Tribe Called Quest
     A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...
     
      which itself contains a sample of "Think Twice" performed by Donald Byrd
     Donald Byrd
     Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
     
     .
6. "Held Down" – 4:54
   • Featuring Cee-Lo Green
   • Produced by Posdnous
   • Contains bass line and riffs from Histoire de Melody Nelson
     Histoire de Melody Nelson
     Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. The Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical plot involves the middle-aged Gainsbourg unintentionally colliding his Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into teenage nymphet Melody Nelson's bicycle, and the subsequent...
     
      by Serge Gainsbourg
     Serge Gainsbourg
     Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
     
      and Jean-Claude Vannier
     Jean-Claude Vannier
     Jean-Claude Vannier is a French musician, composer and arranger. He was born during a bomb scare in Courbevoie, Hauts-de-Seine. Self-taught, he began playing the piano at age 18, later arranging for Michel Magne and Alice Dona, his first notions of orchestration taken from the books of the "Que...
     
     
7. "Reverend Do Good #1" – 1:05
8. "Watch Out" – 3:37
   • Produced by Supa Dave West
   • Contains sample of "Mood for Milt" performed by Cal Tjader
     Cal Tjader
     Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his...
     
     
   • Contains sample of "Cubano Chant" performed by Jimmy Smith
     Jimmy Smith (musician)
     Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
     
      and Wes Montgomery
     Wes Montgomery
     John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...
     
     
9. "Special" – 3:36
   • Featuring Yummy Bingham
   • Produced by Kev Brown
10. "Reverend Do Good #2" – 1:14
11. "The Sauce" – 2:25
    • Featuring Philly Black
    • Produced by Supa Dave West
12. "Am I Worth You?" – 4:01
    • Featuring Glenn Lewis
      Glenn Lewis
      Glenn Lewis is a Canadian R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter. Originally planning to pursue a career in animation as a teenager, Lewis instead decided to focus on music. His father was a member of the musical group Crack of Dawn...
      
      
    • Produced by Supa Dave West
    • Contains sample of "Sun Shower" performed by Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery
13. "Pawn Star" – 4:06
    • Featuring Shell Council
    • Produced by De La Soul
14. "What We Do (For Love)" – 5:04
    • Featuring Slick Rick
      Slick Rick
      Richard Walters , better known by his stage name Slick Rick is a Grammy-nominated English-American rapper...
      
      
    • Produced by Megahertz
15. "Reverend Do Good #3" – 2:20
16. "Peer Pressure" – 5:09
    • Featuring B-Real
      B-Real
      Louis Freese, better known by his stage name B-Real, is an American rapper of Cuban and Mexican heritage, and a film and TV actor...
      
       and Jay Dee
    • Produced by Jay Dee
17. "It's American" – 1:09
18. "Trying People" – 4:31
    • Produced by Def 2 U
    • Contains sample of "Black Patch" performed by 5th Dimension

Album singles

Single information
"Baby Phat Baby Phat (song) "Baby Phat" is the only official single from De La Soul's sixth studio album, AOI: Bionix, released in late 2001. The song was produced by Dave West and featured vocals from Devin the Dude and Yummy Bingham... " Released: 2001 B-side: "Watch Out"