Under 48 hours ago De La Soul made a Kickstarter page to fund their first album. The trio, responsible for albums such as 3 Feet High And Rising and De La Soul Is Dead and widely regarded as one of the most classic hip-hop acts of all time, presumably made this decision so they can continue the independent route they’ve taken so successfully, and set their target at $110,000. Within a day they had beaten it, and within two they have now received almost double that amount in pledges. Rewards include exclusive De La kicks, autographed limited edition vinyl, back stage access to shows and Trugoy the Dove‘s very own platinum plaque for 3 Feet High And Rising (although that last one’s already gone). It goes to show that support for the independent artist is still there – arguably with the internet it has grown – and now we can look forward to a massive, and interesting, De La Soul release later this year. Read some info below, and pledge here!

For the last decade, we’ve been independent artists, free of a record label interfering in our creative process. This will be our first De La Soul studio album in eleven years. We’re excited and ready to create. It’s been essential that we find ways to fund, record and release new music. Typically the fans have been the ones who support and appreciate our vision, so using Kickstarter and giving our fans the opportunity to be a part of the process just feels right. We see Kickstarter as a home for creative minds and a wonderful platform; where people who believe, respect and see the vision, can support an idea and make it a reality.

True to our Hip-Hop roots, we make music without limits. This new album will incorporate elements of Jazz, Funk, Rock, Country Western and anything else we’re feeling in the moment. To us, music is the influence of sounds, sounds in all vibrations and sizes, telling a story or pointing a direction. Some of these sounds we call samples, samples we use to make songs.

Sampling is basically copying a piece of sound, from one recording, and reusing it to create a new recording. It is how De La has always made music. The sampler is our instrument, but people who copy, and in this case “sample,” have also been considered thieves and unoriginal. So, unfortunately a huge part of our career has also been spent fighting off the “sample police.”

Enough of those battles! For the new album, we needed a completely new approach, something Hip-Hop hasn’t done before. So, here it is: For the first time, we’re going to sample ourselves.

Over the last three years, we’ve hired some of LA’s finest studio musicians and recorded them in free-styled, unrehearsed, jam sessions. They played everything from banjo to upright bass, sometimes up to a dozen musicians at once; simply allowing sounds to integrate. We did 90% of these recordings in one of LA’s most classic studios, Vox. We chose Vox because we wanted our recordings to have that creamy analog warm mixing board sound that the old records our parent’s once played had. With over 200 hours of sounds, and vibes, equal to about 250 to 300 full-length vinyl LPs, it’s time that we get to the work.

Here’s the interesting part. We are now in the process of going back to that 200+ hours of music, listening, enjoying and discovering those special moments where, musically, something magical happens, where interesting sounds and layers were forgotten, where new sounds can be sampled, looped, chopped, filtered and arranged, freely, without the intrusive presence of publishing politics and the infamous “sample police.” What we’ve done is created our own crates of records; album upon albums to mine and sample from. In our world, what we’ve created is freedom, freedom to make the art you believe in without having to compromise your vision. That’s what we’ve always wanted most, that’s what we’ve always believed in, that’s what we’ve fought for, and that’s why we’re doing this Kickstarter with you.

 

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