Cosmic Country music from my heart in the heart of Music City.

The official Coldplay SoundCloud profile. New album, Moon Music, landing October 4.

https://linktr.ee/wearedelasoul

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 adoring fanbase and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a hiatus from making albums, but joined The Gorillaz on the track “Feel Good Inc” which won them a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration.  In 2015, the group raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter from fans to independently release their album and the Anonymous Nobody, which was their first #1 on the Rap Albums chart, and was also nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy.   

However, the demand for unreleased De La Soul music was palpable and the cry for access to the first six albums grew louder. Unfortunately, De La Soul was stuck riding a roller coaster of stalled negotiations, dashed hopes and dead-end conversations with their old label, and the group nearly gave up. 

"We have lived without the music up for long, these six albums haven’t been up—ever,” Pos says. “We got used to knowing they weren’t up.” In June of 2021, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home.  In March of 2023, the six missing albums were finally available to stream.  But sadly, right before the catalog release, Dave, the beloved member of De La Soul, passed away. Though bittersweet, De La Soul preserves his legacy and the ongoing impact of their music. 

As iconic songs such as “The Magic Number”, found new life in the film Spiderman: No Way Home in 2021, De La Soul continues to resonate with a diverse population of people. 

As Pos notes, “We’ve noticed over the past several years of tour like, ‘Wow, there’s a father here with his child who also is here with their child. ‘We’re generational. To me, there’s nothing more gratifying than that. That means something. That’s telling about a group. What we were doing wasn’t just stuck to that time.”

“We really naturally been that group for everyone,” Pos says. “It was never about we’re just here for this community, that community, this set of people or these certain fans of Hip Hop culture. We see music as music. We’ve been very resilient, even being a group that didn’t have our music up [on streaming platforms]. We still had these beautiful opportunities through young people finding out about us through a commercial or Spider-Man. Now that it can all be there for people to gravitate to, I’m really happy about that.” 

De La Soul's impact on the musical landscape is immeasurable, with 3 Feet High and Rising widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of its era. Pioneering inventive sampling, playful lyrics, and eclectic beats, the album broke new ground and set a standard for creativity in the genre. Recognizing its cultural significance, the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

Lil Dee (aka Danny James) is said by many to be the next rapper to carry the torch of hip hop. From the young age of 12, Dee spent all of his time learning how to rap by listening to rap legends, and studying the culture on a daily basis. The Coney Island native used social media to put himself on the map by releasing freestyles weekly, staying consistent, and murdering every song or cypher he stepped on.

Dee has performed at world-renowned venues like Radio City Music Hall, opened up for big names like Rick Ross and Ghostface Killah, and has been co-signed by rap legends such as RedMan, Ice T, Big Daddy Kane, and Benny The Butcher, all while he was in high school. At 14 years of age, he was marked as the youngest rapper to ever perform at the legendary Lyricist Lounge. Dee has released two EPs, several singles that vary in versatility and subject matter, and he has been featured on songs with heavy hitters like Kool G Rap, Nems, J Dilla, and RJ Payne, just to name a few. 

His versatility, skill, consistency, and golden era roots have convinced hundreds of thousands of people that he is the next big thing, and will be the next rapper to blow up and carry the torch. Dee plans to spend this year dropping new EPs, singles and features, as well as continuing to hone his craft, grow his audience, build his brand, and perform. The great thing about Lil Dee is that whether you like trap or boom bap, hype tracks or sad songs, Danny has something in his catalog for you.

My name is Lola young, I'm 24, from South East London.
Music is everything to me, helps me try and make sense of myself and the world around me. I'm pretty hopeless with love, as you can probably tell if you listen to the music, I can't sit still for more than 10 minutes, but I manage to figure things out through writing silly and sometimes not so silly songs.. I love you all x

singer songwriter / east london 

emily@london15.com

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