De La Soul and their fans can breathe a major sigh of relief after their years-long mission to bring the rap group's epic discography to streaming services is finally complete.
On Tuesday, January 3, Posdnuos, Trugoy, and DJ Maseo took to social media to announce that their treasured discography is officially coming to streaming services this year. Following Reservoir Media's acquisition of Tommy Boy Music in 2021, De La Soul's imprint AOI has been working with the New York-based independent music company and Chrysalis Records to bring their catalog to the streaming age for the first time.
“We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new," the group said in a press release. "Golnar, Rell, Faith and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen.”
Since the group's inception in 1988, De La Soul's contract under Tommy Boy Records only allowed the array of samples in their classic hits to be cleared for "vinyl and cassette" releases only. Up until 2017, Warner Records, who purchased the group's back catalog in 2002, were allegedly hesitant about renegotiating their contracts and clearing samples. There seemed to be some hope for De La Soul when Tommy Boy founder Tom Silverman bought their catalog back five years ago, which set the stage for their catalog to hit streamers in 2019.
Unfortunately, Silverman's deal with De La Soul wasn't the greatest. It allowed for De La's catalog to be streamed, but the group would only get 10 percent of the revenue. After the group expressed their concerns about the deal on social media, some streaming services declined to carry their music, which sent the group and Silverman back to the drawing board.
In 2023, fans will finally be able to hear De La Soul’s first six albums 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000), and AOI: Bionix (2001) beginning March 3 --- which is also the 34th anniversary of their debut album. In honor of the long-awaited release, De La Soul will reissue their hit single "The Magic Number" via AOI/Chrysalis Records on January 13.