FEATURE:
High and Rising
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Natkin
How De La Soul’s Catalogue Being Made Available on Streaming Platforms Will Introduce Them to a New Generation
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EARLIER today…
some great music news dropped that, inevitably, excited quite a lot of people. Hip-Hop legends De La Soul are one of the most influential groups ever, yet most of their music is unavailable on streaming services. In fact, it is hard to get a few of their albums on vinyl for a reasonable price! Now, after a lot of rigmarole and years in the wilderness, one of the most distinct and influential catalogues in all of music will come to streaming services. There are some new physical releases too. A double gift for fans! This is from Music Week:
“De La Soul’s catalogue will be released on streaming services for the first time on March 3, 2023.
The hip-hop trio had been destined for DSPs in 2019 but ended up falling out with label Tommy Boy. The company has since been acquired by Reservoir, and the group’s catalogue will be distributed by Reservoir-owned Chrysalis Records.
Following the Tommy Boy acquisition in 2021, the Reservoir and Chrysalis teams have worked with De La Soul, and their record label, AOI, to bring their music to digital streaming services.
De La Soul’s first six albums - 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001) - will be available on March 3, 2023. The date marks the 34th anniversary of the release of their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising.
To celebrate the initiative, De La Soul will digitally release their hit single The Magic Number on January 13, 2023. In 2021, The Magic Number featured in the closing credits of Marvel’s Spiderman: No Way Home, a sync placement secured by Reservoir’s team.
The Chrysalis team, led by chief executive officer Jeremy Lascelles, will devote comprehensive marketing support to the group with a release campaign that, among key events and activations, includes exclusive merchandise, vinyl, CDs and cassettes, all distributed by Chrysalis Records. Additional albums from their discography will be available on vinyl, CD and cassettes later in 2023.
De La Soul said: “We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen.”
Faith Newman, Reservoir executive vice president of A&R and catalogue development, added: “As someone who has devoted my life to hip-hop for over 30 years, my relationship with the guys in De La Soul dates back to my early days in the industry, and I can attest to how influential their catalogue is to the genre.
“When Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy, the first call we made was to De La Soul. We vowed to bring their music to streaming, and it means the world to our team to make good on that promise and expose a whole new generation of listeners to one of the most important catalogues in hip-hop history.”
Reservoir president and chief operating officer Rell Lafargue said: “Bringing De La Soul’s music to streaming services is a big moment for Reservoir, Chrysalis, and fans everywhere. We identified this opportunity when we were in the preliminary stages of acquiring Tommy Boy. Over the past 18 months, we have worked tirelessly with De La Soul, maintaining a heightened attention to honouring the group’s original musical details, including bringing Prince Paul and the original team to the studio to prepare the catalogue for streaming.”
He added: “It is a real testament to our team and the group that we are able to execute these plans together. We couldn’t be prouder to embrace De La Soul’s historic artistry and support them in sharing their music with the world.”
De La Soul have been nominated for several Grammy awards. In 2006, the trio won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for their collaboration with Gorillaz on Feel Good Inc, which also received nominations for Record of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video”.
I shall come onto why I think this news will beckon in a new generation of fans. Although the group (Posdnuos, Trugoy, and Maseo) might not follow 2016’s and the Anonymous Nobody..., their legacy and place in Hip-Hop history is confirmed. Their first six albums will be released digitally for the first time ever on 3rd March, on the thirty-fourth anniversary of their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. That album was synonymous with the Daisy Age. This was a more reflective, humorous and peaceful form of Hip-Hop. At a time when more political acts like Public Enemy and N.W.A. were releasing music, some saw De La Soul as soft or a betrayal of hip-Hops roots.
By the 1991 follow-up, De La Soul Is Dead, it sort of signalled the end of the Daisy Age. Their music still contained plenty of humour and brilliant sampling, but 3 Feet High and Rising seemed like this beautiful moment in time. I hoper that the fact the 1989 album is available soon on streaming platforms will provoke Hip-Hop acts to create an album similar to that. It is harder to get sampling clearance these days – and De La Soul did run into legal issues! -, but you can hear the influence of Del La Soul in Rap and Hip-Hop today. An iconic song from their debut, The Magic Number, will be available for streaming on 13th January. I love the fact the trio are coming to the U.K. for live shows in April 2023. Maybe they will release another album! It is such a relief De La Soul have retained control of the rights to the master recordings. Their entire catalogue is great, but I think their debut is considered so seminal because it broke ground and took risks.
Music that was busy with slang and unconventional references, but incredible smart and layered, there wasn’t anyone like them on the scene. Sampling artists you might not normally connect with the Hip-Hop landscape (such as Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, and Johnny Cash), 3 Feet High and Rising, it was the first Hip-Hop album to break up the song with skits. I think one of the underrated and under-explored De La Soul albums if their third, 1993’s Buhlo͞one Mind State. Now, it will be a lot easier to access these masterful and hugely important albums. Fans in the U.K. can see De La Soul at the Royal Albert Hall on 8th April, at Glasgow’s 02 Academy on 9th, Nottingham’s Rock City on 12th, ending up at Manchester’s Albert Hall on the 14th. I would love to see them live, as it would be a rare and thrilling experiencing seeing the group perform this iconic and remarkable music. They will get such a huge reception from the crowds here! I am not sure whether these live dates signal new activity and intention from De La Soul. That would be a wonderful possibility! The music still sounds fresh and exciting today. So many layers and avenues to explore. It means that streaming numbers will skyrocket, and it will give fresh inspiration to artists. The connection the trio have with each other and they way they combine makes their music so powerful and filled with character. So rich and accomplished, this news is going to help start a fresh Hip-Hop wave, inspired by De La Soul’s later sound, but also the supreme Daisy Age techniques and sounds.
You can keep up to date with news and happenings via De La Soul’s website, and you can also find them on social media. I was a child when 3 Feet High and Rising was released in 1989, but I was a fan by the 1990s. I followed them since, and I have always loved their brotherhood and connection. The way they different from everything else in Hip-Hop and had to withstand a lot of negativity. It is exciting that the trio’s catalogue is available to order, and you can get 3 Feet High and Rising on vinyl. I feel the new attention of De La Soul and this great new news will open a young generation to the world of the Daisy Age. The brilliant evolution of the Long Island trio. I also feel, even during an exciting time for Hip-Hop, there will be acts established taking inspiration from their albums. There will also be new artists being struck by De La Soul and albums like 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead. Such an exciting day for music, many didn’t think we would see this happen. It seemed like De La Soul’s music was going to be confined to what physical releases are available. The brilliant news of new vinyl and access on streaming services to this wonderful body of work is a treat for fans of all ages. Nearly thirty-four years since their iconic debut, I don’t think many albums have reached the same peak. Who would have thought that 2023 would start with…
Mark your calendars! De La Soul is coming to Spotify 🌼 pic.twitter.com/mkSLhz4Yeh
— Spotify (@Spotify) January 3, 2023
SUCH a blissful revelation?!