De La Soul

De La Soul is a hip-hop trio from Amityville, Long Island, New York, formed by Posdnuos, Trugoy the Dove and Maseo. Emerging in the late 1980s, the group became central figures of the Native Tongues collective alongside A Tribe Called Quest and the Jungle Brothers, championing a playful, eclectic and Afrocentric alternative to the harder gangsta rap sounds dominating the era.

Their 1989 debut, «3 Feet High and Rising», produced with Prince Paul, introduced a dense, sample-heavy, genre-blending sound and a whimsical sensibility that earned them the «D.A.I.S.Y. Age» and «hip-hop hippies» tags. Singles like «Me, Myself and I», «Eye Know» and «The Magic Number» became genre landmarks, and the group continued to evolve across acclaimed albums such as «De La Soul Is Dead», «Buhloone Mindstate» and «Stakes Is High».

De La Soul remained influential through decades of shifting hip-hop trends, notably collaborating with Gorillaz on the hit «Feel Good Inc.» and crowdfunding their 2016 album «and the Anonymous Nobody». After years of their catalog being unavailable due to sampling clearance issues, their first six albums were finally released to streaming in 2023, reintroducing their catalog to new generations of listeners.