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I recently had the pleasure--and honor--of speaking with 2/3 of the legendary hip hop trio, De La Soul. Now in their 4th decade of releasing fun and insightful rap tunes, Pos and Dave have linked up with French producers Chokolate and Khalid (aka 2 & 4) for a narrative album, First Serve.
The album follows two friends Deen Whitter (Dave) and Jacob ‘Pop Life’ Barrow (Pos) and their ascending rap career, including the inevitable bumps along the way. Throughout the album the two De La rappers stay in character, and if you’ve seen the video for “Must B The Music” you will be able to see the physical differences of Dave and Pos and their First Serve personas.
We touched on many topics including the concept behind First Serve—due out thisc coming Monday, April 2 on Duck Down Music--what Maseo is into, The Roots picnic and the possibility of a new De La album.
OKP: I’ve gotten a chance to listen to the First Serve album a few times, can you break down the concept of album?
Dave: I mean, there is no concept; it’s just a story being told from another perspective. Everyone’s looking for a concept, especially when you put the name “De La” to it, it has to have some type of meaning or concept or something like that. It’s just a project we did in character. It’s like a movie without a screen.
It’s another project that we got into with two producers from France who were interested in working with us. They felt like they had a project that we could take to a place that they envisioned and that’s really what it’s about.
The subject is about two guys coming up, wanting to be rappers and go through their personal trials and tribulations. And they find a way to make that work, and the success of their careers come about and the story continues later on down the line.
The music is probably more of the story because all of the stuff in between kinda pieces the music together. There’s no real concept or guideline, just the idea to put together an album of the lives of these two characters.
OKP: How do these two characters differ from your real personas?
Pos: Yeah when me and him were putting together the characters, we didn’t want them to be just like who we are – the people in De La Soul. My character (Pop Life), is physically a little bit more flashy. And his whole persona is just really out there.
Even when we were writing, we were trying to take on certain things – okay this is something that Pos would say so we wouldn’t say it like that. And we really tried to dive into making this person so much different than what I am.
My character’s name says it all – Pop Life – he’s trying to be popular, flashy and out there.
(Purchase Plug 1 & 2 Present First Serve on iTunes via the button below):
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OKP: The videos off First Serve so far have been very animated. Your characters almost seem like caricatures of popular rappers. Are you guys trying to take a satirical approach with this album, or is it more just you guys having fun?
Pos: I think it’s more fun. I’ve only heard people be like ‘Yo is Dave poking fun at Rick Ross or are you poking fun at Kanye?’ Nah it’s not that at all. The video was just a lot of fun to put together. When we were doing the album and finishing it, we didn’t really know how to (perform) it live. The whole idea of us actually playing these characters physically on stage, that was an idea thrown out there by Dave. We took to it like, Yo we could actually be these characters and make them more than what was shown on the album.
OKP: Why wasn’t Maseo included on this project?
Dave: There wasn’t any choice behind it. The producers (Chokolate & Khalid) are deejays as well, they invited us for lyrical content. Mase isn’t involved obviously because he’s a deejay, so he wouldn’t have a purpose in this album. Mase talks about the project, he understands what we’re doing. We all have each other’s blessing. We’re doing an album outside of De La Soul, and in this particular case Mase isn’t involved.
OKP: Who exactly are Chokolate & Khalid (aka 2&4) and how did you meet?
Pos: They’re actually here. We’ll let them speak to you!
Chokolate: We produced maybe 20 or 25 beats before meeting Dave and Pos. And we thought they were the right persons for this idea or concept for a whole movie soundtrack. And by chance they liked the music and the idea, so we worked together.
OKP: So this started out as Chokolate & Khalid’s brainchild, and Pos and Dave took the idea of making these characters and just ran with it?
Pos: Yeah definitely. It was Chokolate & Khalid’s dream; they came up with this idea, they presented it to us, and we were definitely into and from there we started adding in what we felt could be added.
We’re two members of De La Soul, talking this legendary group, but we didn’t want to overshadow the fact that this idea came from Chokolate & Khalid. We know how the business is, the label and that, and them being humble enough to allow our name, putting De La Soul Presents, but didn’t start the idea. They came up with it, 100%
OKP: You mention that the point of this album isn’t to dis the mainstream, but are you worried about some people – maybe fans or other artists--taking it that way?
Dave: No, not at all! We can fight! That’s cool (laughs). It would be no different from what we did with the album Stakes is High, that could’ve easily been Wu-Tang or whoever is taking it personal. And they would be all like: ‘They said something about Italians on “Itsoweezee.”’ No one ever thought like that. We write on how we feel, and we can be aware of how someone can feel. If this is the point we’re trying to get across, then this is the point we’re trying to get across.
For the First Serve album, we’re not at all, 100% not trying to make fun of anybody.
Pos: I think when people hear the album, they’ll get it, they’ll understand it. This is an album that has a story line and has characters the way The Roots did undun or Prince Paul had done Prince Among Thieves. Now we’re showing you and acting out how these characters will look.
OKP: So recently De La Soul has announced that they will be performing with The Roots at The Roots Picnic. How did that come about?
Pos: I mean we’ve known these brothers for a long time. We’ve actually jumped on stage a couple times and worked with them, so it’s going to be a lot of fun. We haven’t spoken to Ahmir on what songs to do or anything. It’s cool to see all the other cats who may be involved with them, and you know hang and have fun.
OKP: There’s also been a few teaser videos posted online hinting at a possible new De La Soul album. Is there an album in the works?
Pos: Yeah we’re definitely working on that as well. We stay creating. We wanted people to understand that this First Serve album is very important to us, but De La Soul is very important to us as well. And we just wanted them to know this is what we’re working on. First Serve is right now our top priority, but definitely without question De La Soul is here and we’re working on new music.
(Purchase Plug 1 & 2 Present First Serve on iTunes via the button below):
