Features
De La Soul To Go
Back in the day when Too Short and N.W.A were pioneering gangsta rap, a more light-hearted group of artists was mixing up the hip-hop scene with its own brand of alternative beats and rhymes. De La Soul has outlived many of its peers and predecessors. The group continues to evolve and create a more amicable style of hip-hop in contrast to today’s top-selling bling-and-booty obsessed rappers.
In support of its upcoming album, The Grind Date, which is scheduled for release on September 28 on Sanctuary Records, the idiosyncratic old-school hip-hop act has announced a September – November tour that will be sure to please fans of the Long Island trio.
The trek kicks off in Chicago September 18 at the city’s House of Blues. De La Soul crisscrosses the nation, making stops in California, Arizona, the South, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Utah, Oregon and finishes up in Seattle November 15.
Since the group’s high school formation in 1987, the three musketeers – Posdnuos (Kelvin Mercer), Trugoy the Dove (David Jude Jolicoeur) and Pasemaster Mase (Vincent Mason) – have released seven full-length albums.
Their colorful 1989 debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, was hailed at the future of hip-hop until their unique stylings were drowned out by the sound of gangsta rap.
Through ups and downs in their career, however, the low-key New Yorkers didn’t lose sight of their music or their loyal fan base; De La Soul has stayed in touch through touring.
An interesting De La Soul factoid: The group was involved in a precedent setting lawsuit that would affect all musicians who use sampled material.
A legal battle ensued when they sampled a song by the ‘60s group the Turtles without permission, causing the court to rule that all sampled music must be cleared with the copyright holder before the material can be released.