De La Soul vs Tommy Boy Records, De La Soul wins debut album rights 3 Feet High & Rising masters

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Original Broadcast: August 18th 2021 Kool Was Live

De La Soul can finally celebrate. After decades of fighting Tommy Boy Records for their iconic catalog, Posdnuos, Dave and Maseo have officially won back the rights to the master recordings of albums such as 1989’s 3 Feet High & Rising and 1991’s De La Soul Is Dead.
There’d been signs a ceremonious end to De La Soul’s hard-fought battle was on the horizon. In June, Tommy Boy Records was acquired by music-rights company Reservoir for a whopping $100 million.
According to Variety, the deal included more than 6,000 masters, including Hip Hop staples such as Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” House of Pain’s “Jump Around” and Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock.”

Considering De La Soul’s masters were part of that deal, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before their classic albums appeared on digital streaming platforms. In fact, a rep for Reservoir said confidently, “We have already reached out to De La Soul and will work together to the bring the catalog and the music back to the fans.”

In 2019, De La Soul publicly called out Tommy Boy founder Tom Silverman for his questionable business practices. At the time, Maseo, Dave and Posdnuos revealed negotiations between the two parties had resulted in 90 percent of De La Soul’s streaming revenue going to Tommy Boy and 10 percent to the group, a deal they weren’t going to accept.
Consequently, The Roots’ Questlove kicked off the TommyBoycott hashtag while De La Soul begged fans not to stream any of their Tommy Boy albums.

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De La Soul is an American hip hop group formed in 1988 in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres. Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer, David "Trugoy the Dove" Jolicoeur, and Vincent "Maseo" Mason formed the group in high school and caught the attention of producer Prince Paul with a demo tape of the song "Plug Tunin'".

With its playful wordplay, innovative sampling, and witty skits, the group's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), has been called "a hip hop masterpiece". It remains their biggest commercial success, though subsequent albums have continued to receive acclaim. De La Soul is the second-longest-standing Native Tongues group, after the Jungle Brothers. In 2006, the group won a Grammy for their collaboration with Gorillaz on their single "Feel Good Inc."

The group released a Kickstarter-funded album, And the Anonymous Nobody..., in 2016. The album features guest appearances from artists such as Damon Albarn, Little Dragon, David Byrne, 2 Chainz, and Snoop Dogg. Trugoy the Dove died in 2023.

De La Soul's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, released in 1989, was a critical smash hit in the hip hop genre. They quickly became prominent members of the Native Tongues Posse along with A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Queen Latifah, and the Jungle Brothers among others. The single "Me Myself and I" became a huge hit, further cementing the group's popularity. However, the sixties pop group The Turtles sued De La Soul for using a sample from their 1969 hit "You Showed Me" for the interlude track "Transmitting Live from Mars".






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