De La Soul ( ) is an American hip-hop group formed in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York, in 1988. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip-hop subgenres. Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer, David "Trugoy the Dove" Jolicoeur, and Vincent "Maseo" Mason formed the group in high school and caught the attention of producer Prince Paul with a demonstration tape of the song "Plug Tunin'".
The group's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), has been called "a hip-hop masterpiece". It remains their biggest commercial success, though subsequent albums have continued to receive acclaim. De La Soul is the second Native Tongues group after the Jungle Brothers. In 2006, the group won a Grammy for their collaboration with Gorillaz on their single "Feel Good Inc."
The group has released 10 studio albums and one live album between 1989 and 2025. Their catalog was not available on audio streaming services or digital media stores until 2023 due to contractual disputes and copyright clearances for their extensive sampling. Trugoy the Dove died in 2023.
History
1989–1993: 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, released in 1989, was a critical smash hit in the hip-hop genre. They quickly became prominent members of the Native Tongues Posse along with A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Queen Latifah, and the Jungle Brothers, among others. The single "Me Myself and I" became a huge hit, further cementing the group's popularity. However, '60s pop group the Turtles sued De La Soul for using a sample from their 1969 hit "You Showed Me" for the interlude track "Transmitting Live from Mars".
Lyrically, much of 3 Feet High and Rising focused on striving for peace and harmony. The album also introduced De La Soul's concept of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" (an acronym standing for "da inner sound, y'all"). As a result, audiences were quick to peg the members of De La Soul as hippies. This stereotype greatly agitated the group's members, as they always envisioned their career as a constantly changing style; this frustration would influence their next recording sessions. In the press kit for 3 Feet High and Rising, the members explained their stage names: Trugoy when reversed spells yogurt, because he liked yogurt, and Posdnuos spelled backwards is "sound sop". The album artwork was designed by radical British artist collective the Grey Organisation.
De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead (1991), was a much more mature album. It featured a wealth of material that criticized the violent, careless direction in which hip-hop was heading at the time, though it still managed to maintain a light, absurd sense of humor. The cover of the album features a broken daisy flowerpot, symbolizing the death of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" and the imagery that went along with it. The album spawned several singles, including the dark "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa", a tale of a young girl who could no longer take the sexual abuse from her father, and the lead single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)", a story about people using the group's recent fame to try to launch their own careers.
De La Soul collaborated with Black Sheep on "Fanatic of the B Word" and Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest on "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'"; Prince Paul makes an appearance on the microphone in "Pass the Plugs" with a verse of his own. The album also more prominently featured Maseo as a rapper, providing verses of his own on "Bitties in the BK Lounge", "Afro Connections at a Hi-5", and "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)".
Though it received mixed reviews and did not sell as well as 3 Feet High and Rising, it eventually became a cult classic. The Source listed the album as one of their top 100 hip-hop albums of all time. Initially, the tracks "My Brother's a Basehead", "Kicked Out the House", and "Who Do U Worship?" were only available on the CD. Subsequent vinyl reissues have restored the running order as originally intended.
1993–2000: Buhloone Mindstate and Stakes Is High The group's third studio release, 1993's Buhloone Mindstate, saw the group evolve a new sound as they continued to grow stylistically and musically. Several moments on the album proved the band had matured. "I Be Blowin'" was a departure, as the track was an instrumental featuring saxophone playing by Maceo Parker. The introspective "I Am I Be" showed De La Soul at their most self-referential to date with subject matter about Pos' daughter Ayana Monet, as well as his grandmother. "Long Island Wildin'" was a collaboration with Japanese hip-hop artists Kan Takagi (Major Force) and trio Scha Dara Parr. The album's first single, "Breakadawn", used a sample of Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help It" and Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm". De La Soul collaborated for the first time with Gang Starr's Guru on "Patti Dooke", female MC Shortie No Mas, a cousin of Posdnuos', was prominent on many tracks on the album, showcased particularly "In the Woods". The album ended with an old-school Biz Markie collaboration called "Stone Age". Missing from vocal duties is Mase, whose voice can only be heard on "Area" in a break near the end of the track. Also rarely featured is his scratching, which was heard often on previous albums, with only "In the Woods" showcasing his talent in that area. The album was a critical success, but it was the biggest commercial failure for the group at the time of its release. Many publications, such as Rolling Stone, have listed this album as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time.
In 1994, 500 copies of a promotional EP called Clear Lake Audiotorium were released on clear vinyl and CD. The six-track EP contained edited versions of tracks from Buhloone Mindstate, but also featured the tracks "Sh.Fe.MC's" (Shocking Female MC's), which was a collaboration with A Tribe Called Quest, and "Stix & Stonz", which featured old-school hip-hop artists Grandmaster Caz, Tito of Fearless Four, Whipper Whip, LA Sunshine, and Superstar. The EP was widely bootlegged afterwards.
Stakes Is High (1996) was the first album not produced by Prince Paul, with overall production credits given solely to the trio. Although it was met with poor sales, it has been critically lauded for its music, lyricism, and overall message concerning the artistic decline rap music began to face in the mid-'90s. The title track and first single, produced by J Dilla, was not a hit, but the album's second single, "Itzsoweezee (HOT)", with only Dave on vocals, did fare better due to its creative music video. The album spawned a third single, "4 More", featuring Zhane, which peaked at number 52 in the UK. The album did provide a launching pad for future star rapper and actor Mos Def, who appeared on the track "Big Brother Beat". The album also featured collaborations with Common, Truth Enola, and the Jazzyfatnastees.
2000–2005: Art Official Intelligence and The Grind Date
In 2000, De La Soul launched the Spitkicker Tour, a U.S.-wide tour first hosted by De La Soul, Common, Biz Markie, Talib Kweli, and Pharoahe Monch. That same year, they established the Spitkicker collective, which grew to include progressive hip-hop artists, comedian Dave Chappelle, chef Marcus Samuelsson, and others. De La Soul also announced that they would release a triple album series entitled Art Official Intelligence (AOI). All three albums were intended to be released within a year, beginning with the release of Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump. This was followed by AOI: Bionix in late 2001. After this, however, the third and final album in the AOI series was never released. For the next two years, the only De La Soul releases were singles or remix compilations. David "Trugoy the Dove" Jolicoeur stated in an interview thatabout four years usually were needed for the group to record an album, promote it with advertisements, tour, and so on. The group was having trouble finishing the last AOI installment for many reasons, one of which was an ongoing struggle with Tommy Boy Records, which had been releasing its albums ever since its debut.
In the summer of 2002, De La Soul toured with Cake, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Kinky, and the Hackensaw Boys during the Unlimited Sunshine Tour. The band was briefly featured in the video game PaRappa the Rapper 2 with the song "Say 'I Gotta Believe!'", featuring Double, and also appeared on the soundtrack of the game.
In 2004, De La Soul released a new full album: The Grind Date on Sanctuary/BMG Records because the venture between Tommy Boy and Warner Bros. Records was shut down and the group's contract was shopped to the other WEA labels. The band thought about having its contract absorbed by Elektra Records, but it decided to leave WEA altogether. Although it was not the third AOI album fans had been expecting, the album was released to some critical acclaim and was well received by most fans. The album features guests MF Doom, Ghostface Killah, Butta Verses, and Flavor Flav, with production from 9th Wonder, Jake One, Madlib, and more. The lead single "Shopping Bags (She Got from You)" did not fare very well and set the tone for disappointing commercial acceptance. In conjunction with the album's release, the group also offered up the track "Come on Down" featuring Flavor Flav for remixing on Sony's Acid Planet website. The winning remix was "Come on Down (KY Raised NY Glazed)" by Interlude Jones, who said he tried to "take the influential sound of old New York hip hop and marry it back to its roots."
2005–present: Features, And the Anonymous Nobody..., the death of Trugoy the Dove, and Cabin in the Sky In 2005, De La Soul collaborated with Gorillaz on the hit single "Feel Good Inc.", which won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration (the first Grammy win in the group's career) after being nominated for three other Grammys. De La Soul also appeared on the LA Symphony single "Universal" and Posdnuos collaborated with the Portuguese MC Boss AC on a track called "Yo (Não Brinques Com Esta Merda)". The following year, they released mixtapes Hip-Hop Mixtape, a covermount with British dance magazine Mixmag, and The Impossible: Mission TV Series – Pt. 1, a release on the group's own AOI Records label. De La Soul collaborated with the athletic sneaker company Nike to produce two versions of the Nike Dunk under their skateboarding division, Nike SB. In 2008, the group joined A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Tech N9ne, the Pharcyde, and others on the annual Rock the Bells tour": Rock The Bells 2008 Line-Up Announced – Tour Schedule", musicpix.net and were honored at the 5th Annual VH1 Hip Hop Honors. Later in the year, they collaborated with dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip on a re-recording of the British group's debut single "Thou Shalt Always Kill".
De La Soul returned as a guest on the third Gorillaz studio album, Plastic Beach alongside Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys on the song "Superfast Jellyfish". Two other collaborations were recorded, but did not make the final cut for the album. They were supposed to appear on a track entitled "Sloped Tropics", though this song did not make the final cut. The group remixed indie rockers Yo La Tengo's single, "Here to Fall for the Here to Fall" remixes EP, which included remixes by RJD2 and Pete Rock, and were featured on a remix of Matt & Kim's single "Daylight" by DJ Troublemaker.