It is odd to see artists reach out to fans giving them a chance to be apart of the creation of a project. De La Soul is trying to make rap history again by doing just that. The iconic trio behind one of Hip-Hop’s most recognized songs, “Me, Myself, and I,” is making a new album with funding from Kickstarter.
This project from De La Soul would mark the first studio release in eleven years from the group. What makes this project special aside from the fan input behind the record is that De La Soul will be sampling themselves. De La Soul was famously sued over uncleared samples, or as Maseo put it, “They had to create new kind of lawyer to sue us.” The lawsuit brought upon De La Soul by the turtles was settled outside of court. In order to obviously avoid any future lawsuits and make history, De La Soul will take samples from over two hundred hours of jam sessions recorded in their studio. The impact this has over the industry is bigger than most realize. If an artist can get funding to create his or her own project, the need for labels to back an artist financially will become less of a part of the music industry. The lack of the necessity of big label financial backing will allow for creative control solely in the hands of artist. De La Soul essentially is making a blueprint that some artists will be sure to follow in the future. This wouldn’t be the first time the rap group did something historic.
On Valentines day last year De La Soul released their entire catalog for free for only 24 hour window. This too was a historic event seeing as no artist had ever scrapped together an entire album, let alone catalog to put out for public consumption before. The group had trouble getting their music on iTunes. De La Soul has pledge rewards depending on how much one decides to donate to the cause. These pledge rewards are: $5 for “love bucks”, $15 for digital copy of the album, and $10,000 -if someone was willing- will have the return on investment of a lot of De La Soul. The album is looking at a September release date given that the album will reach the Kickstarter goal. De La Soul is looking at accomplishing an awesome task. The collaborators on the album will be 2 Chainz, Damon Albarn of Blur and the Gorillaz, Little Dragon, and the Talking Heads’ David Byrne. Be a part of history by donating to the De La Soul Kickstarter. More details on the album are sure to come the closer De La Sou gets to a final product. Until then do some digging into De La Soul’s archive.
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