De La Soul’s 20-Year Journey: The Unreleased “Grind Date,” Mac Miller, and New Music Insights

De La Soul Reflects on Their Legacy

De La Soul spoke with NME about the 20th anniversary of their classic “Grind,” as well as the unrelated Mac Miller collaboration, mourning Trugoy The Dove, and what lies ahead in their journey.

From their iconic debut album “3 Feet High and Rising” to their Grammy Award-winning collaboration ‘Feel Good Inc.,’ this legendary hip-hop group has earned the title of Rap Royalty for over 35 years and now celebrates two decades since the release of their seventh album.

In 2004, after their Tommy Boy Records label concluded its joint venture with Warner Records, the New York trio (comprising Posdnuos, Trugoy The Dove, and DJ Maseo) released “The Grind Date,” their first album under Sanctuary/BMG Records. Featuring talents such as Common, Ghostface Killah, MF Doom, and Sean Paul, along with production from J Dilla, Madlib, 9th Wonder, and Supa Dave West, the album marked a new era for De La Soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8-xws9hymi

Reminiscing About Their Music Journey

Speaking with NME from New York, Posdnuos and Maseo shared their memories of creating a classic album and opened up about the loss of Trugoy The Dove (also known as Dave Jolicoeur), who passed away in February 2023, as well as their plans for new music after his death.

NME: Hello De La Soul. The story of “The Grind Date” began while you were still in the Warner Records system. How did you find your way to Sanctuary?

Posdnuos: “Once the unsuccessful situation arose when Tommy’s (records) fight and Tom (Silverman, founder) owed Warner a lot of money, and he didn’t meet their requirements, the parent company pulled the label from him. So all the artists on the label were in the Warner system, awaiting release. The entire album was affected.

“Warner allowed us to free ourselves, and then Kim Speak, who had worked at Tommy and had already been working at Sanctuary, brought us there.”

You were supposed to release a third album, ‘AOI III’ at that time, but instead, you released ‘The Grind Date.’ What led to that decision?

Posdnuos: “As soon as we moved to Sanctuary, we knew it would be challenging to give them ‘AOI III,’ which was meant to be largely a DJ-based album with minimal lyrics. So we felt we had to present them with a traditional De La album.”

Were there any tracks recorded for ‘AOI III’?

Posdnuos: “Yes, there are several tracks.”

Will fans ever hear them?

Posdnuos: “Most likely, because we genuinely feel it should be released. The process was initiated, but it never finished when all the chaos with Tommy’s fallout occurred. So yes, there’s a lot of material, and over the years, Maseo has been working on an even larger volume of material, including some pieces with Mac Miller. He received plenty of things from us.”

Do you guys have an unreleased track with Mac Miller?

Posdnuos: “Actually, it’s just Mac Miller and Maseo. It’s not a collaboration between De La and Mac Miller because it was Maseo who began working on certain concepts for the DJ project associated with ‘AOI III.’ He managed to receive a verse from Mac before he left.”

Looking Ahead and Honoring the Past

Enjoy reprints of ‘The Grind Date,’ which includes previously unreleased tracks like “More” and “Respect,” a rare track featured on your ‘Impossible: Mission’ album. Were there any other tracks that didn’t make the cut?

Posdnuos: “Yes, there are numerous tracks. Vitamin D, who produced ‘More,’ also created another track called ‘Nerve,’ which features only my verse, as Dave never penned his part. There are many incomplete pieces. We have a remix to ‘Rock Co.kane Flow’ that was never released because I started it, and Dave never finished it.”

“Rock Co.kane Flow” has become a cult classic among fans. How did this track come into the hands of De La Soul?

Posdnuos: “It was Vitamin D who initially brought the track to us, and then Jake sent us a bunch of beats. Interestingly, Jake didn’t even want to include ‘Rock Co.kane Flow’ on the CD he provided us because—with a laugh—he thought he would give it to G-Unit or Busta (Rhymes).

Then MF Doom got on the track. How did that come about?

Posdnuos: “After Dave laid down his verse, he said, ‘Hey, we really need to put Doom on this one.’ And the rest is history.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipgwxhegisy

Do you guys have any other unreleased music in storage?

Posdnuos: “There are a lot of things. I’m proud that I’ve held onto everything, even the things we just experimented with. So there are many projects we attempted that didn’t materialize. There isn’t a whole catalog, like what 2Pac might have, but I’m saying there are many unwritten tracks.”

Is there any plan for a new De La Soul album in the near future?

Posdnuos: “There are plans. I can’t elaborate too much, but there are definitely plans in the works. Maseo and I want to keep making music, that’s for sure. We enjoy what we do. Even Dave’s family gathered us to honor his life and memory at his house. We knew we had to continue as a group even before that.”

Two years have passed since Trugoy’s passing. How have you adapted to his absence?

Maseo: “It’s hard, dude. I don’t know what it feels like to lose a limb, but it feels akin to that. It’s like walking without one of my feet or one of my hands. He was someone I could rely on, and I loved him dearly. It astounds me when I recall moments we shared in unexpected times, and it’s a difficult reality. When Dave passed, I completely fell off the radar for a couple of weeks.”

What’s one of your favorite memories of him?

Maseo: “One of our favorite films was Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G.. It characterized our journey, and we often referenced it jokingly during our career. We tossed around quotes from the film throughout the years—me, Pos, and Dave. So when Pos said, ‘Yo, Dave is our Ramon, dude. We need to celebrate Ramon and turn the entire catalog release into the celebration of our Ramon,’ he hit the nail on the head. The bittersweet moments continue, but that sentiment provided me a flicker of inspiration to carry the flag with us.”

De La Soul’s ‘The Grind Date (20th Anniversary Edition)’ is out now via BMG.