Bars & Books: De La Soul's 'Stakes Is High' Listening Session

Join us for a special Bars & Books session marking 30 years of Stakes Is High, De La Soul's landmark 1996 album. We'll play selections from the record, break down standout bars, and dig into what made this project a turning point — for the group, for New York, and for hip-hop.

We'll be joined by Marcus J. Moore, journalist and author of High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul, and Timmhotep Aku, cultural worker and writer, for a conversation that traces the album's legacy thirty years on: its place in De La Soul's catalog, its sound and its stakes, and its roots in a New York hip-hop scene that shaped the genre's future.

Part listening session, part community conversation, Bars & Books is about bringing people together through music in a space dedicated to hip-hop culture, learning, and shared experience. This session is also a celebration — of De La Soul's contributions to the culture, and of the New York natives who built hip-hop from the ground up. Whether you grew up on Stakes Is High, know it only by reputation, or are simply hip-hop curious, this event invites listeners to engage with the record beyond nostalgia. Expect sharp bars, meaningful discussion, and a room full of people connecting through hip-hop as both art form and living archive.

All are welcome! RSVP encouraged.

Please note: There is no confirmed artist participation at this program.

Marcus J. Moore is a Washington, D.C.-born author, curator, professor and music journalist whose work has become essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the emotional and political undercurrents of Black artistry. With a voice that merges academic rigor, lived experience and deep listening, Moore has spent two decades documenting the intersections of jazz, hip-hop, soul and experimental music, tracing how those sounds shape identity and community.

Moore’s work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, NPR, Pitchfork, The Washington Post, TIME, The Nation and The Atlantic, where he has cultivated a reputation for essays that combine reporting, criticism and history. In 2020, Moore released his first book, The Butterfly Effect, a groundbreaking cultural biography exploring Kendrick Lamar’s rise and his transformative impact on Black America. Published by Atria Books, the book was praised for its analytical precision, historical context and compassionate understanding of Lamar’s artistry. Rolling Stone named it one of the best music books of 2020, calling it “an effective biographical portrait."

Moore followed that success with High and Rising, an acclaimed examination of the legendary hip-hop trio De La Soul and their revolutionary place within hip-hop history. Instead of offering a conventional timeline, Moore contextualizes the group’s work within the broader landscape of late-20th-century Black culture, unpacking how De La challenged hip-hop orthodoxy with humor, vulnerability and imagination. The bio — named by Rolling Stone as one of the best music books of 2024 — was widely praised for its depth, sincerity and meticulous reporting, cementing Moore’s status as one of the foremost chroniclers of contemporary Black music.

Beyond journalism and authorship, Moore has become known for creating spaces centered on intentional listening and dialogue. Through public listening sessions, artist conversations, liner notes and live programming, he has championed the idea that music deserves patience, context and communal engagement. His work often highlights artists operating beyond the commercial mainstream, particularly musicians exploring the spiritual and experimental edges of genre.

At the core of Moore's work is a belief that Black music is more than entertainment. He belongs to a lineage of cultural writers who understand that music journalism can preserve history, helping audiences better hear sound and the world that produced it.

Timmhotep Aku is a Brooklyn-bred cultural worker who has written and edited for Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR Music, The Fader, Complex, XXL, and other brands over his two-decade plus career. He is the story editor of the Signal Award-winning documentary podcast The Blog Era and served as an associate producer and interviewer for the concert/documentary film, Kamasi Washington Live at The Apollo (2020). Aku is also a founding member of New Eyes, a collective Black critics, journalists, and other cultural workers dedicated to the preservation and advancement of critical Black voices in media. His ongoing multimedia and experiential project, Subject To Change, includes writing, art, event production and curation, pedagogy, and his radio show of the same name which airs monthly on London’s NTS Live.

This program will take place at the Central Branch - 2nd Floor Eastern Parkway Collections