De La Soul

De La Soul is back—but did they ever really leave? After delivering their seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 with the production genius of Prince Paul, the New York City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo went on to further impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). But once the digital age exploded in the late ‘90s, De La Soul’s celebrated catalog was unavailable to stream.

Hip Hop

As the decades passed, the tight-knit group forged ahead anyway—touring the world, connecting with their devoted fanbase, and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a 12-year hiatus from making albums but returned with the Grammy Award-nominated …And The Anonymous Nobody in 2016. With the demand for unreleased De La Soul music palpable, the cry for access to the other six albums grew louder.

After years of painstaking and unsuccessful negotiations, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir in June 2021, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home. Beginning March 3, 2023, the 34th anniversary of their debut album, the six missing albums will finally be available to stream, a clear sigh of relief for Pos.

The arrival of De La Soul’s catalog also pairs perfectly with the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, a genre and culture they impacted forever with the implementation of innovative samples into their music. From Hall and Oates and Beastie Boys to Steely Dan and The Turtles, their unadulterated love of music illuminates everything they do.

As iconic songs such as “The Magic Number” illustrates (which found new life as part of the Spiderman: No Way Home film in 2021), De La Soul continues to resonate with a diverse population of people. Even with all of De La Soul’s accolades, Maseo is emphatically proud of their longevity. He concludes, “This has always been something that’s been dear to me. I think it’s important to say now, in this day and age—f all the accolades. The most important accolade is three Black men staying together.”