de-la-soul

Beginning February 14th, 2014 at 11 a.m. EST fans can download the the entire catalog of De La Soul, one of the best hip hop groups of all time. You better hurry though, you only have 25 hours to cop all of that classic music for FREE from the group’s website

De La Soul’s generous move is being made in honor of the 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. For all those unfamiliar, De La was a part of the Native Tongues crew which also included fellow eccentric jazz-influenced hip hop artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Black Sheep, Brand Nubian and The Beatnuts.

Why release all of that music for free when they could just sell it at a discount on iTunes? Turns out all of those uncleared samples used by rap artists back in the day have come back to haunt them:

The same things that made 3 Feet High and other De La albums so influential — its creative, if not fully licensed, use of a myriad of samples — has also prevented the group’s work from appearing on many digital platforms. “It’s been a trying journey,” admits Posdnuous. “We’ve been blessed to be in the Library of Congress, but we can’t even have our music on iTunes. We’ve been working very hard to get that solved.” The rapper points to frequent changes at record labels and hazy language in early contracts that have led to long delays in properly clearing the group’s catalog. – Rolling Stone Magazine

The group hopes that releasing all of their music for free will generate new sales on future music as well as ticket sales on performances in the future.

Personally, De La Soul was one of my favorite rap groups back in the day (short of Outkast, of course). I played the Stakes is High album non-stop when it was released back in 1996.

I was a skinny black gay college student right there in the front row at the July 2000  Spitkicker Tour in Atlanta featuring De La Soul, Common, Pharoahe Monch, Biz Markie, and Reflection Eternal (DJ Hi-Tek & Talib Kweli). I remember Common dapping me up right from the stage as I mouthed all of his lyrics right along with him (FYI: He’s got hands like sandpaper). It was a great collaborative show, De La Soul performed with every artist on the lineup.

 Turns out, over the years some of De La Soul’s music has gone missing from my iTunes library, so I’ll be right there downloading these classics at 11 a.m.

NICK DELMACY’S FAVORITE DE LA SOUL MUSIC VIDEOS