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De La Soul ( DAY lah SOHL) is an American hip-hop group formed in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York, in 1988. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip-hop subgenres. Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer, David "Trugoy the Dove" Jolicoeur, and Vincent "Maseo" Mason formed the group in high school and caught the attention of producer Prince Paul with a demonstration tape of the song "Plug Tunin' ".

The group's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), has been called "a hip-hop masterpiece". It remains their biggest commercial success, though subsequent albums have continued to receive acclaim. De La Soul is the second Native Tongues group after the Jungle Brothers. In 2006, the group won a Grammy for their collaboration with Gorillaz on their single "Feel Good Inc."

The group has released 10 studio albums and one live album between 1989 and 2025. Their catalog was not available on audio streaming services or digital media stores until 2023 due to contractual disputes and copyright clearances for their extensive sampling. Trugoy the Dove died in 2023.

History

1989–1993: 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead

De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, released in 1989, was a critical smash hit in the hip-hop genre. They quickly became prominent members of the Native Tongues Posse along with A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Queen Latifah, and the Jungle Brothers, among others. The single "Me Myself and I" became a huge hit, further cementing the group's popularity. However, '60s pop group the Turtles sued De La Soul for using a sample from their 1969 hit "You Showed Me" for the interlude track "Transmitting Live from Mars".

Lyrically, much of 3 Feet High and Rising focused on striving for peace and harmony. The album also introduced De La Soul's concept of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" (an acronym standing for "da inner sound, y'all"). As a result, audiences were quick to peg the members of De La Soul as hippies. This stereotype greatly agitated the group's members, as they always envisioned their career as a constantly changing style; this frustration would influence their next recording sessions. In the press kit for 3 Feet High and Rising, the members explained their stage names: Trugoy when reversed spells yogurt, because he liked yogurt, and Posdnuos spelled backwards is "sound sop". The album artwork was designed by radical British artist collective the Grey Organisation.

De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead (1991), was a much more mature album. It featured a wealth of material that criticized the violent, careless direction in which hip-hop was heading at the time, though it still managed to maintain a light, absurd sense of humor. The cover of the album features a broken daisy flowerpot, symbolizing the death of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" and the imagery that went along with it. The album spawned several singles, including the dark "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa", a tale of a young girl who could no longer take the sexual abuse from her father, and the lead single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)", a story about people using the group's recent fame to try to launch their own careers.