De La Soul is the greatest Hip-Hop group of all time—fight me. Mase was AWOL, but Dave and Pos were on The Breakfast Club this morning and shared many jewels about their ridiculous longevity in the rap game.
From touring the world, to the origin of the Native Tongue sound to Angela Yee trying to appear on a De La record, the two MCs delivered a wealth of knowledge while still remaining ever humble.
The group’s new album, and the Anonymous Nobody, is out tomorrow (Aug. 26). Check out 12 things we learned from De La Soul on The Breakfast Club.
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Photos: Instagram
The record collections of their parents is what led to that Native Tongue sound.
“We were sampling from every and anything. That’s what the sound is. Not being afraid of going beyond James Brown at the time, and trying everything.”—Dave
De La Soul never broke up. But Dave (f/k/a Trugoy) admits he quit the group about three times. But you ain’t know that, though.
The reason for all that hippy ish was quite obvious.
“It was something for the white audience to associate with.”—Dave
De La Soul felt like they never felt they needed to be in a competition with A Tribe Called Quest. They loved to see their brothers excel. However, Dave and Pos noted that they lacked controversy (i.e. they never broke up). Which makes sense as well as their constant touring…overseas.
De La always did it for the love, but were frustrated whenever execs tried to push them to do the same thing over and over. i.e. “Can you make another ‘Me, Myself & I’?”
Plugwon just got married. Salute. Enjoy the tax breaks.
Dave thinks a lot of rappers still unite and Pos gave TDE its props. Also, TDE…Black Hippy. Hmm…
However, the Native Tongue click was spread across various labels.
Pos said Tommy Boy was a great label because they allowed them to be who they needed to be. Tom Silverman wasn’t buddy buddy with other execs in the industry, though.
Angela Yee and Santigold went to the studio to sing a hook for a Stakes Is High era song that was never released, and it was awful.
What’s with the new album’s title? and the Anonymous Nobody.
Says Dave: That’s the innocent bystander, the person who kinds steps up to the plate and does a good deed for the greater good of everybody. I’m not looking for any pats on the back any awards or anything like that, I just step up because I feel like something needs to be done. It’s a contradiction of the two words. Being anonymous is because you are somebody and well known.
The Kickstarter raised $600,000 and the album cost…about $600,000. There are no samples, so that’s a lot of session players to pay, just saying.
Of course they appreciated being influences to the likes of Kanye West and the mighty Mos Def. Wouldn’t you?
You’re Welcome was a conventional album the group was working on before the Kickstarter. And don’t sleep on the album they did with Nike. Yes, they get paid every time Nike drops a pair of Dunks. But early on, nah.
