Why should you have De La Soul blasting in your earbuds while you work out rather than some classic Britney Spears or Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”?

The new set of 45 minutes of De La Soul goodness was created specifically with joggers in mind as part of the Nike+ series of music to run to, according to the Guardian.

The Nike+ series was created in collaboration with Apple’s iPod and released yesterday through iTunes Music Store. The De La Soul release includes eight or nine original songs, recorded by the group and then mixed up by producers Flosstradamus.

“Let’s not call it a track, let’s call it a journey,” Vincent Mason, also known as Mase, told BBC 6 Music.

To make sure the tunes were a good fit for running shorts and jogging shoes, some members of the hip-hop crew hit the pavement themselves.

“I’ve dabbled in running before, but I got back in to it and would run to test it out,” Kelvin Mercer, aka Posdnuos, said. “Nike also has a team of runners on staff who listen to it and give us their opinion.”

De La Soul isn’t worried about fans accusing the guys of selling out by partnering with Nike.

“I’ll work with anyone,” Trugoy, aka David Jude Jolicoeur, said. “When you’re compromising yourself, that’s the problem. I don’t want to go on KFC doing popcorn chicken commercials, and I’m in a popcorn chicken outfit. But if you’re talking about KFC having this new free range poultry, or it’s something new to talk about healthy eating, why not?”

Besides, De La Soul explained that they could use a good excuse to run. The Guardian asked if the group has changed since its first album, 1989’s 3 Feet High and Rising, and Posdnuos answered “[We] just got fatter”.

Nike and iPod previously partnered for jogging tracks with artists including LCD Soundsystem, Simian Mobile Disco and Aesop Rock.

Oh, and my current favorite workout music is Cut Copy and Kylie Minogue. Can’t really explain the Australian connection. Maybe I should ask the gym to hang up a poster of Sydney or something for inspiration. Leave a comment and tell us what’s on your workout mix.

Read the Guardian article here.