De La Soul

De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 who are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres. The members are Kelvin Mercer, David Jude Jolicoeur and Vincent Mason.

De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, was released in 1989, and featured the single "Me Myself and I". The album introduced De La Soul's concept of the "D.A.I.S.Y. Age",an acronym standing for "da inner sound, y'all".

De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead, was released in 1991 and featured material that criticized the violent, careless direction that hip hop was heading in at the time. The album featured the lead single "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)" and "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa".

Buhloone Mindstate was released in 1993 and included "I Be Blowin'", "I Am I Be", "Long Island Wildin'" and "Breakadawn". This was followed by, in 1996, the album Stakes Is High which featured the title track, "Itsoweezee (HOT)", and "4 More". In 1996, they appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD America Is Dying Slowly, alongside Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, and Fat Joe, among many other prominent hip hop artists. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men.

In 2000, De La Soul release a triple album series called "Art Official Intelligence" (or AOI). All three albums were intended to be released within a year, beginning with the release of Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump. This was followed by AOI: Bionix in late 2001. The third and final album in the AOI series was never released. For the next two years, the only De La Soul releases were singles or remix compilations.

In 2004, De La Soul released a new full album: The Grind Date. In 2005, De La Soul collaborated with Gorillaz on the single "Feel Good Inc.," which won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration. De La Soul also appeared on the LA Symphony single "Universal" and Posdnuos collaborated with the Portuguese MC Boss AC on "Yo (Não Brinques Com Esta Merda)".

In 2006, De La Soul released a mixtape of new and old songs titled Hip-Hop Mixtape. In 2008, the group joined A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, The Pharcyde and others on the annual Rock the Bells tour