# Plug Tunin'

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"**Plug Tunin'**" (includes the subtitle "Are You Ready for This?") is a song by hip hop trio [De La Soul](/source/De_La_Soul). It was released in June 1988 as the group's debut single as part of a [double A-side](/source/A-side_and_B-side#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](/source/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 No. 40 in the magazine *[The Face](/source/The_Face_(magazine))* list of best singles of 1988.[3] In January 1998 was included on *[The Source](/source/The_Source_(magazine))**s "The 100 Best Rap Singles of All Time" list.[4] In 1999,*****[Ego Trip](/source/Ego_trip_(magazine))**s editors ranked "Plug Tunin'" at No. 8 in their list of Hip Hop's 40 Greatest Singles by Year 1988 in *Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists*.[5] In 2013 was ranked by *[Complex](/source/Complex_Networks)* at No. 5 on their list "The 100 Best [Native Tongues](/source/Native_Tongues) Songs".[6]

## Sampling

De La Soul's label, Tommy Boy, offered a $500 reward for "the first person to identify a convoluted sample" on the song.[7]

"Plug Tunin'" has also been sampled by other artists such as [Nas](/source/Nas), [Common](/source/Common_(rapper)), and the [Gravediggaz](/source/Gravediggaz)' "Defective Trip", which is also produced by [Prince Paul](/source/Prince_Paul_(producer)).

## Conception and composition

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](/source/3_Feet_High_and_Rising)*.

## Track listing

1. "Plug Tunin' (Are You Ready for This?)" – 3:41
1. "Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes)" – 2:52
1. "Freedom of Speak (We Got More Than Three)" – 4:16
1. "Plug Tunin' (Something's Wrong Here)" – 3:10
1. "Strictly Dan Stuckie" – 0:38

## References

1. ["De La Soul 3 Feet High..."](https://www.hifinews.com/content/de-la-soul-3-feet-high). *[Hi-Fi News & Record Review](/source/Hi-Fi_News_%26_Record_Review) (website)*. April 22, 2022. Retrieved March 12, 2023.

1. ["ASCAP Repertory entry for this song"](https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/workID/460272535). *[ASCAP](/source/American_Society_of_Composers,_Authors_and_Publishers)*. Retrieved March 13, 2023.

1. ["Rocklist.net ... ... The Face Recordings Of The Year ..."](https://web.archive.org/web/20060216032048/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/theface.htm#1985). *rocklistmusic.co.uk*. Archived from [the original](http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/theface.htm#1985) on February 16, 2006. Retrieved March 13, 2023.

1. "100 Best Singles: The Top Hip-Hop Songs of All Time". *[The Source](/source/The_Source_(magazine))*. No. 100. January 1998. p. 32. [ISSN 1063-2085](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1063-2085)

1. Jenkins, Sacha; Elliott Wilson; Chairman Mao; Gabriel Alvarez; Brent Rollins (1999). [*Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists*](https://books.google.com/books?id=sB3SAgAAQBAJ&dq=Last+Night+Kid+%27N+Play&pg=PA321). New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 9781466866973.

1. ["The 100 Best Native Tongues Songs"](https://www.complex.com/music/2013/05/the-100-best-native-tongues-songs). *[Complex](/source/Complex_Networks)*. May 25, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2023.

1. Richard Harrington. ["De La Soul's Mind-Bending Rap"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/05/18/de-la-souls-mind-bending-rap/af8f9493-1894-41e2-88f2-ed2057247d0b/). *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Plug Tunin'](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_Tunin') by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_Tunin'?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.