'Opening The Door' EP out 16 September

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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.

Ra Mak gained his love for music at a very young age. He bought his first record in 1983 at the tender age of 8, and got his introduction to early Hip Hop, Electronic music, Funk and R&B  from his older brother and sister and  his love  Jazz, and Soul from his mother. By age 10 he was a full blown Hip Hop head. He would take their old records and put them on the turntable and mimic the sounds he heard coming from this hip new music. 1996 he played his first club in Asheville NC. Shortly after that he moved to Atlanta where his obsession with djing and vinyl collecting increased. While there he was introduced to House Music and the house dj was born. In mid 2000 he migrated to Tampa Fl where he was flung head first into his two passions, djing and record collecting. Now back in his home town of Asheville NC his quest continues. 

 Recording artist Blais (pronounced “Blaze”) is an independent artist out of Los Angeles, California originally from Norfolk, Virginia. Writing and composing the majority of his material, Blais is a new face in the emerging Hipster / Alternative R&B genre, mixing sultry melodies with hip-hop overtones.

Growing up in the melting pot of Norfolk, Virginia, he was influenced by the fusion of East Coast and Southern Rap styles and from an early age, he has always had an admiration for the harmonic detail of artists such as Michael Jackson and Prince. Blais began his music career with the group Aggrivated Muzik in 2005 producing and writing many of the groups projects, branching off to begin his solo venture in 2006. In August 2011, Blais released his first free album titled “Imagination With No Timeline” which is available on Datpiff currently with over 8,000 downloads. Blais has opened for several major label artists including Nicki Minaj, Future, Tyga, Pitbull, Tyga, and Gorilla Zoe, most recently opening up for Wale at the Observatory in Santa Ana. Like many other Virginia talents such as Pharrell, Timbaland and Missy, Blais incorporates an eclectic sound that crosses over many genres and musical tastes.

Demayne Ginyard is following