Great news for lovers of the Hip-Hop culture (we can say that this is a birthday present for Hip-Hop which completed yet another year of life on August 11), but above all it is a major gift for the De La Soul fans.
After a long legal battle against their former record label, Tommy Boy Records, in a conflict that has lasted over two decades… finally De La Soul holds the right to the master tapes of its entire classic catalog comprising the greatest and most inspired hits of the group.
The Long Island, NY power trio has definitely delayed its entry into the streaming era. The albuns 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate, Stakes Is High, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump and AOI: Bionix was recorded and produced by the trio between 1988 and 2001 with Tommy Boy Records, and to this day they continue to show no signs of life on major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.
For years, De La Soul has been trying to bring projects like their debut album, the masterpiece 3 Feet High and Rising, the absolute classic of RAP music and one of the most acclaimed records in the history of Hip-Hop and De La Soul Is Dead for streaming. In 2019, the year of the 30th anniversary of the release of 3 Feet High and Rising, Tommy Boy made moves to make the albums available on platforms with a deal that would have made the group receive only 10% of streaming royalties, De La Soul, feeling aggrieved, (and rightly to be so) asked fans not to listen to his albums on streaming platforms, and Tommy Boy backed off in its plans to upload the works, a fact that shows and makes clear how the music industry almost always operates in in their interests.
Tommy Boy Records logo, one of the most unique record labels of RAP music
New York-based independent music company Reservoir Media recently purchased the entire Tommy Boy catalog for $100 million and became the rights holder to the masters of De La Soul's classic albums. Representatives of the company and the trio reached a quick agreement to divide the rights and release all blocked material on streaming services, fulfilling an old desire of the group and fans, with this, De La's music will be available to a wider, younger and broader audience.
"We finally reached an agreement between us and Reservoir Media to release our music on streaming platforms in 2021," said member Dave "Trugoy". "Our catalog is coming out this year, we are working diligently with the good people at Reservoir and we sat down with them and completed it very quickly, actually."
De La Soul made it official and celebrated the news last Tuesday (the 10th) during a live session on the group's Instagram:
Rapper Talib Kweli had already reported first hand the achievement days before on his social network:
“Ladies and gentlemen, I spoke with DJ Maseo of the legendary De La Soul today and it's official … after years of being taken advantage of by the music industry in the worst possible way, De La Soul now owns all the rights to its masters and is in full control of the amazing music that they created,” wrote Kweli late on the 7th. “Let's salute Plugs 1, 2 and 3 [Referring to the members] for standing their ground and showing us that we can beat the system if we come together as a community. Let's hear this for the black owner of black art! Congratulations guys…” concluded the legendary rapper.
Comprised of Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer, David "Trugoy" Jolicoeur, and Vincent "DJ Maseo" Mason, De La Soul have always been considered the pioneers and one of the most influential groups in Alternative Hip-Hop. In all De La Soul has released eight studio albums, but only the last two, The Grind Date (2004) and And the Anonymous Nobody (2016), are now digitally available.
The group expects its first six albums to be available in November.
Carlos Tico: Historian, Presenter at Dublab Brasil, Vinyl Collector and Musical Researcher.