A DE LA VICTORY
I sleep very choppy and usually have a lot on my mind like the rest of us. I try to knock out by 11 pm and get up early but within the last few years I've been waking up at 3 am and last night was no exception. Something told me to grab my phone and when I grabbed it I went to Spotify and saw a promotion for De La Soul. I was shocked. I saw the whole entire catalog including their odd, eccentric, yet creative, debut album which was a historical album in the hip-hop genre. De La Soul was not a commercial group but had commercial hits like "Me, Myself,& I" and the Hall-n-Oats sample "Say No Go." I always gravitated to their harder drum-laced material like "Cokaine Rock Flow" "Pass the Peas" "Ghetto Thang" and others but damn did I have a good time listening to most of their catalog.
As everyone knows the group has been fighting to get their music on DSPs for many years and it has finally happened. The bittersweet part about it is the member known as Trugoy is no longer here to enjoy this musically historical moment. In such a masculine genre of hip hop where gold chains, cars, and money are a prominent theme, these 3 kids from Long Island did something extremely different. The album came with a comic book on the inside and was just marveled at by us true hip-hop heads. I am proud to have witnessed that in my youth. What is today's youth going to grow up saying they experienced which gave them hope and inspiration for being creative? Blueface and Rock punching on each other? Or maybe drink-throwing reality tv? Hey, it's the culture though, right?
THE RELEASE PARTY
While I was scrolling through classic De La albums in the middle of the night, the remaining squad members were celebrating onstage with Queen Latifah, Monie Love, and Dave Chappelle, I believe I even saw Rockness Monsta from Helta Skelta there as well on an Instagram post. Everybody had touching things to say and the night was dedicated to their fallen De La member Trugoy and the rights to have their catalog on streaming services. Posdnus said onstage about when he first arrived in this country from Haiti, “The first person I met was this beautiful human being named Regina Peter, and she made me feel really good about myself.” “The second person I met was a brother named Mike Jolicoeur. For those of you that don’t know, Mike Jolicoeur is the brother of Dave Jolicoeur, and he meant everything to me.”
He continued: “By me meeting him, we forged a relationship, became brothers, became more than brothers. Became partners, in sum that created an energy that everyone around the world has humbled us by respecting and loving. I am truly thankful for all of you that are here. You best believe my n-gga Dave is looking down right now on everything.” Maseo kept the moment kind of brief, but shouted out his late friend and groupmate, as well as De La Soul’s loyal fans. “I usually have a lot of words to say, but I’m at a loss for words, yo,” he said. “My emotions are very displaced. My man is gone, but I appreciate all of y’all all these years for support.” He explained he was from Brooklyn but moved to Long Island as a kid like many New Yorkers. Rest in peace, Trugoy.
