De La Soul haven’t released a new song in nine years, and so it seems they want their first new opportunity to soap-box a little on a subject they know well: the state of hip-hop.
The rap pioneers will drop “Get Away (feat. the spirit of Wu-Tang),” the first in a series: they plan to release a new track once a month for a year, through YouTube and social media. According to Rolling Stone, “Get Away” will be a reintroduction of the trio to today’s listeners, but with a catch.
“It’s pretty much reflecting on the state of hip-hop at this moment. Everything is redundant. Everything sounds the same. No real lyrical content. Everybody’s just doing business, not really creating,” said the group’s DJ Maseo.
The group is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and the song series symbolizes a sort of transition in the biz since their inception. De La’s last album was 2004’s “The Grind Date,” and they’be mostly been touring and producing the occasional one-off guest appearance on songs since then.
“I think putting out those singles would be more impressionable than dropping an album at this present day in music,” Maseo said. He said De La Soul will eventually release an album “You’re Welcome.” “It’s about trying to just creatively have a bunch of songs in the stable. You have to consider a lot from the administrative standpoint in the release of a project.”
“Get Away” has a video coming, which was shot in March; there is no official drop date, though RS said to watch out next week. De La Soul is touring with Ice Cube, Public Enemy and LL Cool J during this summer’s King Of The Mic tour, dates below.
May 23 – Ava Amphitheater – Tucson, AZ
May 24 – Hard Rock Casino – Las Vegas, NV
May 25 – Shoreline Amphitheatre – San Francisco, CA
May 26 – Santa Barbara Bowl – Santa Barbara, CA
May 30 – Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
May 31 – Harrah”s Council Bluffs – Stir Cove – Council Bluffs, IA
June 1 – Scottrade Center – St. Louis, MO
June 4 – Fox Theatre – Atlanta, GA
June 6 – Mahaffey Theater – Saint Petersburg, FL
June 7 – St. Augustine Amphitheatre – St. Augustine, FL
June 12 – Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric – Baltimore, MD
June 14 – Charter Amphitheatre – Simpsonville, SC
June 15 – nTelos Wireless Pavilion – Portsmouth, VA
June 16 – Durham Performing Arts Center – Durham, NC
June 18 – New Jersey Performing Arts Center – Newark, NJ
June 19 – Bank of America Pavilion – Boston, MA
June 20 – Roseland Ballroom – New York, NY
June 22 – Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center – Canandaigua, NY
June 23 – Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort – Mount Pleasant, MI
June 25 – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica – Cleveland, OH
June 26 – DTE Energy Music Theatre – Clarkston, MI
June 27 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
July 1 – Verizon Theatre – Grand Prairie, TX
July 2 – Stubb”s Waller Creek Outdoor Amphitheater – Austin, TX
July 3 – Bayou Music Center – Houston, TX
July 5 – Essence Music Festival – New Orleans, LA