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De La Soul
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
De La Soul is a hip hop group from Amityville on Long Island, New York. Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos), David Jolicoeur (Trugoy the Dove) and Vincent Mason (Maseo) met at secondary school. With a demo of Plug Tunin' they attracted the attention of the producer Prince Paul, and in 1989 their debut 3 Feet High and Rising appeared. It became their greatest success, with the hit Me Myself and I.
Music and breakthrough
The album sounded different from most rap of the moment. The group stacked samples from all kinds of sources on top of one another, made funny interludes and rapped about peace and harmony. They called it the D.A.I.S.Y. Age, which stood for da inner sound, y'all. The public soon stuck the label hippies on them, and the members hated that. On De La Soul Is Dead (1991) the cover therefore shows a broken flowerpot with daisies. Buhloone Mindstate (1993) and Stakes Is High (1996) followed, among others, the title track of the latter produced by J Dilla.
Influence
De La Soul belonged to the Native Tongues, a circle of groups such as A Tribe Called Quest and the Jungle Brothers who shaped jazz rap and alternative hip hop. The free sampling also had a downside: The Turtles sued the group, and owing to problems with rights and contracts their music was not on streaming services until 2023. In 2006 they won a Grammy for Feel Good Inc. with Gorillaz. Trugoy died in 2023.
Listening
Me Myself and I · De La Soul, 1989Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 19893 Feet High and Rising
- 1991De La Soul Is Dead
- 1993Buhlo͞one Mind State
- 1996Stakes Is High
- 2000Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump
- 2001AOI: Bionix
- 2004The Grind Date
- 2006The Impossible: Mission TV Series, Part 1
- 2016and the Anonymous Nobody…
- 2025Cabin in the Sky
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black PlanetNL Reader
- After Hours: Session 4NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Golden age hip hop Genre
Public Enemy piled up samples, sirens and scratches, De La Soul chose a playful tone, and the Wu-Tang Clan used lo-fi beats with samples from kung fu films.