De La Soul is Dead

March 3rd, 2023 was supposed to be a huge celebration for their fans as De La Soul was finally going to offer their first albums - 3 Feet High & Rising (1989), of course, but also De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000), and AOI: Bionix (2001) - on streaming platforms. But life is such that this imminent news is overshadowed by the loss of one of the trio’s two MCs, Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, on February 12th, 2023. Truguoy had been suffering from heart failure for several years... Born on September 21st, 1968, in Brooklyn, he grew up in Long Island, meeting his two accomplices Kevin “Posdnuos” Mercer and Vincent “Maseo” Mason on the benches of Amityville High School. Together, they revolutionized the history of rap from their first album 3 Feet High & Rising (1989), which many describe as the Sgt. Pepper’s of hip-hop!

Based on an astronomical quantity of samples ranging from Sly Stone to Johnny Cash via Otis Redding and even Serge Gainsbourg, the record produced by Prince Paul is unlike any other. An earthquake that can also be felt in their atypical, offbeat and pacifist lyrics, far from the stereotypes of the genre. Enough for the three New Yorkers to be labelled as hip-hop hippies. A positive attitude mixing pacifism, feminism and Afrocentrism shared with groups like the Jungles Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest or the rapper Queen Latifah, all united under the Native Tongues flag.

De la Soul’s discography has been absent from streaming services until now for legal reasons. Samples never cleared or only for their “physical” release, these albums were among the last great absences from online services. On the 3rd of March, this will, fortunately, become a thing of the past...