As a young lad I was introduced to the world of hip-hop via groups like Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, and De La Soul. Of course the tides would change and we’d all fall in love with the Wu-Tang Clan, Outkast, and N.W.A. At the time songs like “Itsoweezee” were revolutionary and daring. Now all these years later, the music of De La Soul holds up, and to honor their own catalog the group is making all of their music available for free on the group’s website.
Starting at 11am EST today, February 14th, the entire catalog of music released by De La Soul will be available to download for free for 25 hours. Starting with their first album 3 Feet High and Rising, the group has been a major influence on hip-hop. But unfortunately it’s been difficult for even De La Soul to get the music out to fans. Aside from having a copy of some CD’s, and bootlegs from shows, the style and sometimes not quite official samples used in the songs have made things difficult to distribute in a digital music world.
At least on an official level, with high quality audio guaranteed. So this is a way for fans to finally get their hands on amazing audio versions of the songs. And it’s a thank you to those fans who have over the past 25 years made an effort to collect the music of De La Soul. Now you can fill in the gaps of your collection, you can upgrade to better versions of the songs, and most of all you can revisit one of hip-hop’s greatest groups. Coming up this year De La Soul has their new album, You’re Welcome, along with other projects that will keep things fresh for fans.
Speaking with Rolling Stone about the upcoming album and why it’s been delayed, De La Soul member Posdnuos had this to say:
"Certain groups have too many 'yes men.' In our group, we have too many 'no men.' When we look back on some of the stuff we have, we're like, 'Yo, we need to just put this out.' The album is still called You're Welcome, but we also have this whole other album that we're working on that…Wooo, I wish I could talk about it."
And if you’re new to De La Soul, then get your education on with the video below of “Itsoweezee.”
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