De La Soul is back—but did they ever really leave? After delivering their seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 with the production genius of Prince Paul, the New York City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo went on to further impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). But once the digital age exploded in the late ‘90s, De La Soul’s celebrated catalog was unavailable to stream.
As the decades passed, the tight-knit group forged ahead anyway—touring the world, connecting with their devoted fanbase, and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a 12-year hiatus from making albums but returned with the Grammy Award-nominated …And The Anonymous Nobody in 2016. With the demand for unreleased De La Soul music palpable, the cry for access to the other six albums grew louder. After years of painstaking and unsuccessful negotiations, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir in June 2021, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home. Beginning March 3, 2023, the 34th anniversary of their debut album, the six missing albums will finally be available to stream.
