All hell broke loose when De La Soul revealed the terms of Tommy Boy Records’ streaming contract earlier this week. The revered Hip Hop trio’s catalog has notoriously been tied up in negotiations for years and it looks like their first six albums will finally be available on all streaming platforms in the near future.
The problem? Pos, Dave and Maseo are being offered 10 percent of the deal, while Tommy Boy is raking in 90 percent. The situation is so dire, Questlove kicked off a “Tommy Boy Boycott” with JAY-Z, TIDAL, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest’s Jarobi and The Beat Junkies’ DJ Rhettmatic (among others) quickly falling in line.
But Maseo has been careful about what he puts out there. The group’s issues lie with Tommy Boy founder Tom Silverman who Maseo says has “always been pretty much an unfair business man.”
Silverman currently owns all of De La Soul’s masters and Pos, Dave and Mase are well aware there’s only so much they can do legally. However, the fact remains this is 30 years of blood, sweat and tears — all they want is a favorable deal.
“This is exposing the truth of the situation at least,” Maseo tells HipHopDX. “At the end of the day, we all take a hit whether we are the good guy or the bad guy in the situation. I was careful enough to say it’s not everybody. All we ask is to be fair. For what we’ve been able to sustain … look, Tom lost the catalog. And losing the catalog, I could have potentially lost my career. Between now and then, look what I’ve been able to sustain.”
Despite De La’s continued success, it’s taken a toll on all of them.
“There’s been a lot of pain and suffering through this,” he admits. “To even take care of my family, I had to tour like a mother fucker. Do you know all the things I’ve missed because of shit like this? I’m not substantially living the way as it appears to be.”
Interestingly enough, De La was considering launching their own “Tommy Boy Boycott,” but Questlove coincidentally took the reigns.
“Let me tell you what’s crazy,” he explains. “We flirted with the idea of a boycott for a long time — for about a good month-and-a-half. It’s crazy Questlove came out of the blue with that. We honestly wanted to be really clear on it being a boycott. It just sat there on our tongue. We were like, ‘What the fuck do we do!?’
“We legally can’t fight and can’t afford to fight. We ended up refraining from that. Tom [Silverman] can legally do this. It’s pretty much turned into a protest to us and a boycott for the fans. The boycott manifested on its own. It had been up to this point just a protest.”
Although Mase doesn’t “feel good” about the entire situation, he would sooner die than roll over and simply ignore what’s happening, although he’s treading lightly.
“I’m taking a knee,” he says. “I don’t feel good about this at all. The fans get it. You guys remember when we gave it away for free ,right? At this point in time, at the end of the day, I know I gotta be careful based on him [Silverman] being mad. The retaliation could be nasty. I gotta think further on how rich people think.”
Pos, Mase and Dave were barely out of high school when they released their seminal album, 1989’s 3 Feet High and Rising. They were just three wide-eyed New York kids with a voracious love of Hip Hop and an ambition to match. Mase admits their youth and naivety to the music business got them in this spot.
“When you reflect on all of it, it was a 12” deal that lead to another 12” that led to an option of three more options contingent on how the first one would go and what they thought the success would be,” he says. “The lawyer at the time, J. Kramer, we used him based on just following the lead of Stetsasonic and KRS-One. KRS used to always say his name in his music.”
He continues, “At that time, you’re just learning who’s been burned in the business prior to your entry and the things that have gone on in not just Hip Hop but also music in general. These are things we were aware of coming up. Take care of your business. Hire a lawyer. Even to this day, we can read the contracts all day long, but theres’s legal jargon.
“I didn’t go to school to become a attorney. You just hope your attorney is on your team. The thing is, everybody is in business for themselves. As we learned over the years, they are more with the labels than the artists they rep. It’s like a good ol’ boys club.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzOOCnkUlnA
De La is still in good spirits despite all of this.
“I’m through the hiccup,” he says. “The world knows. JAY-Z knows. Questlove knows. Ebro knows. Apple Music knows. Everybody knows! I really feel free at this point. I’m honestly ready to move on with my life. 30 years!? We already missed the download era. I already got my grey hairs [laughs]. I’m alright. I think what’s happening now that’s atypical De La, you get clowned now. It’s like, we don’t expect you to change. Get the fuck outta here now.”
Besides, Pos, Dave and Mase have more enticing things on the horizon. They are getting ready to head overseas with Public Enemy and Wu-Tang Clan for a string of shows. And they’re also back in the studio with DJ Premier and Pete Rock working on a follow-up to 2016’s And The Anonymous Nobody and a third installment in the Art Official Intelligence series.
“We gotta get back in the studio,” he confesses. “This is a distraction. It’s a pretty good one. It’s distracting the entire world. It’s creating the distraction we need so we can get back to work. This part of it feels really good. Tom [Silverman] has gotten away with so much in this culture. He doesn’t deserve the celebration. We do. He doesn’t.
“I‘m gonna be honest. I’m celebrating. My crew, we on the same page with this. Like yeah, ‘Fuck him, let’s go.’ All our friends get it together. I just want to like like like like it!!”
Evidently, the boycott is working. On Thursday (February 28), De La shared an update and it looks like the tables are turning.
“Dear Fans, Tommy Boy wants to negotiate, but only if we sign a confidentiality agreement first,” the post reads. “Feels like they want to silence us to ensure that we cannot share this story with you, while they continue to short change our legacy at the negotiating table.
“How about we close a deal first, then we agree to keep the deal confidential.”
Let’s go.
Damn stakers is high album predicties what hip hop would become 20 years later. That and Jeru tha damaja. Respect look forward to new album
These guys signed away their life, now they want sympathy. It was the price you paid to get on. Deal with it. Hustle up enough money to bug back your masters, or quite simply live with 10%. Most moteefuckers make next to nothing off of streaming nowadays. The money is in live performances. De Lá stays on tour, and they sell out shows. This is embarrassing and petty. You AGREED and signed your deal. Now, deal with it.
I dont understand why even if they signed a bad deal why they should accept. De La Soul are infinitely more valuae now than they were when they signed. Therefore they have leverage to renegotiate. Thisis a life lesson. We all make mistakes but does not mean we have to accept it.
You obviously don’t understand how a contract works. Once you sign a contract, you HAVE accepted. ITS very simple.
Obviously you are not a lawyer. Not all contracts are the same. It dependance onvrije terms. Furthet you have to look at whether the terms were explicit or implied. To judgr that their contract is binding is blind unless you tell me you have seen the contract.
Yeah. To judge you’re spelling and grammar, trying to be an intellectual, is easy. If it wasn’t a binding contract, this conversation wouldn’t be happening. Jackass. They used the label’s shady deal (which was a great deal at the time), to be relevant and wealthy 30 years later. Prince Paul sampled 60’s Hippie music and thought no one would catch on. They took a HUGE L on that one back in the late 80’s. They’ve had PLENTY of time to figure out the lawyer game. No one has to see a contract, when one party is pussyfooting claiming victim, and the other is sitting there smiling, counting money. The headline wasn’t “ De La Soul sues Tommy Boy for unpaid royalties and unfair business practices.” Jackass
We need a new De La Soul album. Hopefully they can work our better terms or even buy their masters
they do own their new masters and release their new albums under their own label. just not their albums released under tommy boy.
Yeah I’m just glad to hear these guys are continuously working. I’ll be glad when all
This shit is over so they can deliver this album to us and get what they deserve for it
Very simple. They took any deal they could get, to get their music to the masses. It worked. They’re all millionaires, own homes, 100 thousand dollar cars and their kids can all afford college. Now all of a sudden they want to go back and erase te sacrifice they made for the career they had? Kind of stupid, victim mentality. Sign to a new label, or be independent. Too $hort isn’t suing ANYONE. He put all his shit out independently back in the day. E-40 too. This is like complaint about the interest rate on a college loan after you already graduated from Stanford and are making houndreds of thousands of dollars a year. I also think it’s HILARIOUS that Gay-Z suddenly gets involved with this bullshit. Dude helped 21 slaveage, a convicted felon, get out of being deported, who is clearly in the wrong. Now he’s helping De La, who are also on the wrong side of the law? Just fuck Beyoncé and put out your shitty “woke” albums tgat yupsters and Hillary Clinton like, jackass. No more metric tons of Coke I see.
You are a total complete idiot, therefore do ypur family a favor and kys. No one will miss you and your jacked up teeth.
Nice recort. I’m guessing you’re working on your GED right now. I stated FACTS, your arguments were grade school childish insults. No creativity. How’s about an intelligent point of view? Well, this is what happens when someone with a college education is engaged by a fry cook at Arby’s. You signed those docs when you agreed to be the curly frys guy. Don’t bitch 30 years from now. KYS buddy. I own a business, two cars and a 2000 square foot home. I have other priorities. Hahahahaha
Im gonna say what everyone is too scared to say: De La Soul were hippy pussies when they came out and they’re corny bitches to this day. What are they crying over? Record sales and streams arents significant sources of revenue in 2019. They can still get show money. theyre squares. Fooh crybabies.
AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!? Talking big behind your screen, huh? Go accomplish something that people are still talking about 30 years later and get back to us.
Streams bring in a shit load of money sir…..
No. Streams aren’t. Idiot. You probably believe cops target “innocent” black People too, huh? Idiot.
You would love to have an indefense black man at your mercy to retaliate for having a small dick don’t you little momma’s boy coward…
It’s hilarious that all these morons are defending De La. You signed away. Deal with it. Your lack of business acumen isn’t my problem. Now I’m going to download and play ALL of their shit on every streaming service possible. Morons.
Industry Rule #4080…………..