Macklemore, like so many other members of the Hip Hop community, is celebrating the legacy of De La Soul as their catalog officially arrives on streaming services for the first time.
The legendary Hip Hop group’s entire discography was released to DSPs on Friday (March 3) — affectionally known as “#DeLaDay.” Their first six albums — 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate, Stakes Is High, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump and AOI: Bionix — have now joined the rest of their catalog.
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A long time coming, it marks the end of a lengthy and complicated legal battle involving sample-clearance issues and disagreements over money between De La and their longtime label, Tommy Boy Records.
De La Soul shared the news in January with an announcement on their social media pages and official website. On Instagram and Twitter, the group shared a video of a giant billboard in Times Square — in partnership with Amazon Music — captioned: “Alexa, what’s the magic number?”
Speaking to HipHopDX, Macklemore explained the impact De La Soul had on him coming up and shared how the trio helped shape the person he is today.
“De La had a huge impact [on my life]. They shaped who I am 100 percent,” he told DX. “There was something about their ability to be themselves, right? It just felt like them; it felt like De La. They were never trying to copy what anyone else was doing.
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“Whether it was commercially successful or not, on album to album it was like, this is De La — and unorthodox. No one sounded like them. No one rapped like them. And even though they were under the Native Tongues umbrella, they didn’t sound like Tribe, they didn’t sound like anybody else. It was just them.”
Going on to salute De La Soul for their beat selection, Macklemore noted their connection to his hometown of Seattle and how he met the group’s DJ during his early years.
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“They’ve always picked production that I like,” he said. “One of De La’s biggest songs [‘Rock Co.Kane Flow’ featuring MF DOOM] was produced by Jake One, who lives up the street from me.
“And there’s a Seattle connection — they did some stuff with Vitamin D who’s a producer in Seattle. Then my OG was super close with Maseo; so there was just this connection of watching De La be De La Soul, and also seeing Maseo at the local club once a year as I was coming up. I met him but I never really talked to him. I was in my early 20s — De La has an incredible body of work.”
Sadly, just three weeks before the arrival of De La Soul’s catalog on streaming, founding member Trugoy The Dove died at the age of 54.
While details surrounding his death have yet to be disclosed, the Haitian-American rapper (real name David Jolicoeur) had seen his health impacted by congestive heart failure in recent years. The rapper (also known by the names Plug Two and Dave) first revealed the news to fans in a clip at the beginning of the 2017 video for “Royalty Capes.”
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In the wake of his death, tributes poured in on social media from many across the Hip Hop community, including the likes of Nas, Busta Rhymes, Pharrell, Queen Latifah, Questlove, Big Daddy Kane, DJ Jazzy Jeff and many more.
HipHopDX asked Macklemore about the passing of Trugoy; the “Thrift Shop” rapper said he still hasn’t “fully processed the loss of Dave, but his music will live forever.”
Aside from Friday being “#DeLaDay,” it’s also the release date of Macklemore’s new album, BEN — his first since 2017’s Gemini.
Comprised of 15 tracks, it features guest appearances from DJ Premier, NLE Choppa, Morray, Tones And I, Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel and more.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 about the album earlier this week, Macklemore said: “I think that the process of making an album is one where you’re trying to get to the core of your own truth, right? You’re stripping away layers, you’re peeling them back. You’re like, okay, who am I? What do I want to say now?
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“And I’ve been rapping for a long time. 25 years. I started when I was 14 years old. So it’s been a journey of a discovery. And I think that my constant answer when people were like, ‘What’s the difference between Macklemore and Ben, the person?’ And my answer would always be like, there is no difference. I hold myself to be as transparent as possible. I want to be myself in the music.”
He added: “I think our journey through life is this process of finding out who we are, what is our purpose, why are we here, and what are we going to do with this time? And every album should reflect that.”
Released via Macklemore’s own Bendo LLC imprint, you can listen to BENhere.
