De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is 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 (Posdnuos, Mercenary, Plug Wonder Why, Plug One), David Jude Jolicoeur (Trugoy the Dove, Dave, Plug Two) and Vincent Mason (P.A. Pasemaster Mase, Maseo, Plug Three, Baby Huey). The three 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 band's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, is considered a hip hop masterpiece. It is also the band's biggest commercial success to date, with their subsequent albums selling progressively less, despite receiving high praise from critics. A measure of 3 Feet High and Rising's cross-over appeal was the fact that it was voted Album of the Year by NME, a title better known for its taste in indie-based music. De La Soul has influenced numerous other hip hop artists such as Camp Lo, The Black Eyed Peas, and Digable Planets. They were also influential in the early stages of rapper/actor Mos Def's career, and are a core part of the Spitkicker collective. They are the second longest standing Native Tongues Posse group, after the Jungle Brothers. In 2006, the group won a Grammy for their collaboration with Gorillaz on the single "Feel Good Inc."
Links To Peel
Peel heard the group through Tommy Boy Records, whose hip hop artists were regularly played by Peel in the late 80's. The group were played quite frequently on Peel's show between 1988 and 1989, which attracted many NME listeners, who voted their album "3 Feet High" as the NME album of the year of 1989. After the early 90's, De La Soul's music rarely got played by Peel, as he started to listen to more of British rap acts such as Credit To The Nation and Senser.
