Hot Press Meet De La Soul

Here’s a great reason to look forward to 2014. Next year will be the 25th anniversary of De La Soul’s hip-hop classic 3 Feet High and Rising. The trio are plotting a year of commemorative activities, including a mouthwatering tour with fellow genre godfathers Public Enemy.
 
“It really doesn’t seem like 25 years,” reflects Kelvin Mercer, aka Pos. “It has gone by so fast. It’s great that we found our own path and we’ve had all these opportunities. It’s a blessing. We don’t feel like we’ve been around that long. We’re only getting going. It seems like 10 years at most.”
Kelvin isn’t sure what has kept the show on the road. Unlike most of their contemporaries, De La Soul never split.
“It’s impossible to know what goes on in other groups, or why things go wrong with someone like A Tribe Called Quest for example,” Mercer says. “All I know is that we’ve had our issues. However, we’ve always seen ourselves as brothers. We knew each other for years before we became De La Soul. We actually went to school together.
“It’s a blessing doing all this. We learn from each other. We’re not stuck in the past, trying to re-create the same sounds or songs.”
“We’re three brothers who grew up together having fun. Each performance and each track is a new challenge.”
In recent years, De La Soul have reached wider audiences courtesy of their work with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz. Then again, they’ve always toiled outside the box when it comes to collaborations and remixes, teaming up with not so obvious bedfellows such as New Jersey’s Yo La Tengo.
 “We feel that, the less we know about the artist in terms of their audience or what he or she are doing, the better,” Mercer says. “That’s when it’s even more of a challenge. What is so interesting about touring is meeting people. You enter their world and they enter yours. Take Damon. I knew him from Blur. I wasn’t fully aware of Gorillaz. It was an absolute honour to be asked to do that project.”
 De La Soul have plenty of projects of their own to keep them busy into their anniversary year. The Long Islanders are exploring the concept of releasing one track a month.
“We’ve a tonne of music,” Mercer confirms. “The songs are there, ready to go. We’re just getting the visuals finished. We’re looking to do a lot of great things to mark the anniversary of 3 Feet High and Rising.”
Before that benchmark,  De La Soul are savouring their forthcoming appearance at Indiependence.
“Ireland is always good,” Mercer enthuses. “People know the words. Not just to the singles, but to the whole albums.”