De La Soul Discusses Classic Albums Finally Hitting Streaming, New Music And More

De La Soul spoke to Billboard about their back catalog finally hitting streaming, relevance in rap, and more.

De La Soul is celebrating the sought-after re-release of their classic music. After announcing that their back catalog is officially releasing on music streaming services, the seminal hip-hop trio spoke to Billboard about acquiring their masters through Reservoir Media, the argument of relevance in contemporary rap, and more.

When asked about the importance of their past music reaching younger audiences, group member Dave answered that aspiring rappers could potentially be inspired to "be different or sound odd."

"It isn’t really about, 'We got to do something for these people who’ve never heard our music,' it’s just that the exposure could open so much more," he said. "We want people to hear it, and maybe run off and do something amazing that’ll impress us, and it keeps going back and forth."

The group also acknowledged how fans from the late 1980s passed the group's music "down to their children" while it remained off streaming platforms, as well as the significance of the group's 1989 single "The Magic Number" appearing in the 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home.

"In my DMs, a person was like, 'Yo, after [“The Magic Number” appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home], I couldn’t find it, then my grandfather pulled out his [record] and showed me,'” Posdnuos said. "I know my age, but I still feel like I’m cool as s***, so this is weird that I could be a grandfather. [Laughs.] But it’s all coming together, and it’s great that the music that needs to be up [on streaming] will be there."

The Long Island-based trio was later asked about the possibility of releasing new music, with a reference to DJ Prince Paul reuniting with the group. However, they maintain that Prince Paul helped them in regards to their older catalog, but they expressed interest in collaborating with DJ Premier and DJ Drama.

"We have a few, and we just need a few more. [sighs] I really want that to come out, God willing," Pos said. "Me and Preem actually spoke about two weeks ago when I was in New York. 'Come through, let’s try to cook some stuff up.' So hopefully we can get that done soon. A Gangsta Grillz with Drama would hit too, I would love to do that. So there’s a lot of things that I would love to see done. With new music, for me, it’s always about new along with what’s classic, what’s timeless."

De La Soul's full catalog is slated to release on music streaming platforms on March 3.