Our old friends De La Soul have been possessed by the eternal spirit of charity! Where once the Long Island trio would go years without even a rumbling, they now seemingly have endless gifts for the general public. Just last month, they offered up the (near) entirety of their discography for a charge of zero dollars to absolutely everyone… provided you have a personal internet connection or are willing to pull a slick move at the library. Now, they’re offering up more free material, this time in the form of new De La content. The group has a new mixtape called Smell the D.A.I.S.Y., which can be downloaded as part of a bundle through BitTorrent, or streamed below:
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It really does seem like the once-miserly (this is untrue, to my knowledge) De La Soul have pulled a real Ebenezer move. They’ve even been visited by a spirit, namely that of J Dilla. While D.A.I.S.Y. may have once stood for “Da Inner Sound, Y’all” (this is a thing I had to look up), in context of this release, it stands for “Da Inner Soul of Yancy.” The release nods to Dilla (a.k.a. James Yancy), due to its 11 tracks all featuring his beats, along with new and reworked verses from De La Soul. If you would like to know more about J Dilla, don’t nervously go to that library where you downloaded the whole De La Soul discography, but instead watch the 2011 documentary Still Shining, which is bundled with Smell the D.A.I.S.Y. in the torrent file, along with an open letter from De La Soul.
If there was fear of De La Soul’s generous streak ending, fear no longer. In fact, don’t fear anything. There’s no time for that. Smell the D.A.I.S.Y. is just the first in a series of De La Soul releases this year. First, there will be the Premiem Soul on the Rocks EP, featuring production from DJ Premier and Pete Rock. In the slightly more distant future (but still within the year), the group plans to put out You’re Welcome, an honest-to-god new De La Soul album. You there! What day does that come out? Why, Christmas Day! THERE IS NOT A NEW DE LA SOUL ALBUM COMING OUT CHRISTMAS DAY. I was referencing Dickens or, more accurately, one of many adaptations of Dickens’ work.
Smell The D.A.I.S.Y. tracklist:
01. Let the King Ascend
02. Who (feat. Redman)
03. Dilla Plugged In
04. Goes the Word
05. Vocabulary Spills
06. The Pitch
07. Taking the Train
08. Leave Your Cares Behind
09. O’Shut Up
10. No More No Less
11. Marvin Jaye
• De La Soul: http://www.wearedelasoul.com
[Photo: Roger Kisby]