For years, fans have been clamouring for the early work of iconic NYC hip-hop trio De La Soul to be put on streaming services. Due to issues over rights, sample clearance and royalties, foundational albums such as 1989’s 3 Feet High and Rising and 1991’s De La Soul Is Dead have been absent from the internet for years, much to the chagrin of anyone with even the slightest interest in golden-age rap music. All of that changes this March, when the band’s celebrated first six records will finally be released for streaming.
It’s sure to be a watershed moment in a career that’s already been filled with them. A smash hit upon release, 3 Feet High and Rising instantly cemented rappers Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo as three of the wittiest and most innovative MCs working, and provided an effervescent, unique counterpoint to the gangsta rap dominating hip-hop culture at the time. Sampling artists as disparate as Johnny Cash, Funkadelic and Steely Dan, 3 Feet High and Rising has been acknowledged as a huge influence on many artists who came after.
It set the stage for the smart and radical records that followed, including the more darkly toned De La Soul Is Dead, which was controversial upon release but later found a cult audience, and 1993’s Buhloone Mindstate, which embraced the group’s weirdo side and drew infectious hooks out of unconventional grooves and unexpected collaborations.
Through the remainder of the 90s and 2000s, De La Soul continued to release music and march to their own strange, psychedelic drum, critiquing the cynical and over-commercial hip-hop climate on 1996’s Stakes Is High and collaborating with influential beatmakers such as J Dilla on their Art Official Intelligence albums. In 2005, they found a whole new audience when they featured on Gorillaz’s hit Feel Good Inc., for which they won their first Grammy; it marked the beginning of a fruitful partnership between the two bands, who clearly identified a common thread between their fantastical, off-kilter aesthetics.
In 2016, De La Soul proved they were still as vital and interesting as ever with And the Anonymous Nobody, a Kickstarter-funded album that saw them collaborating with fellow pop oddballs such as David Byrne, Snoop Dogg and Little Dragon.
Now, a whole new generation is set to fall in love with the trio once again, thanks to the arrival on 3 March of their classic work on to streaming platforms. To celebrate, we’re giving you the chance to ask Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo everything you might have ever wanted to know about De La Soul. Maybe you want to hear about whether they think their concept of the Daisy Age – “da inner sound, y’all” – is applicable to the TikTok era. Perhaps you want to hear about whether they’re still in touch with the other members of the Native Tongues posse, or about the one sample they’d love to use, but haven’t found the right place for yet. Whatever the question, they’re here to answer – post your queries below by noon GMT on Friday 27 January and we’ll pick the best ones to ask them.
• This article was amended on 24 January 2023. It previously referred to the Native Tongues posse as the Native Sounds posse.
