De La Soul Get Away (Ft. The Spirit of The Wu)

When I first heard Stakes Is High, I was in my first year in college, and that album blew my head wide open. I had liked 3 Feet High and Rising, was a little confused by Bulhoone Mindstate and De La Soul Is Dead, but I didn't consider myself an avid De La fan at the time. It was nearly ten years since De La had released Stakes, but in 2004 it hit me like it had just been released. The intricacy of Posdnous and Trugoy's MCing was sublime, and the way they could effortlessly weave between lovingly lambasting what their culture had become to simply styling on you with words was and still is otherworldly to me.

To call De La Soul legendary is redundant. No other group has spanned as many years, as many styles, and maintained as much relevancy and respect while consistently making interesting music like the trio from Long Island.  The teenager inside me is ecstatic to hear that their first LP since The Grind Date is coming in 2013. Rolling Stone just premiered the first cut, "Get Away," that finds Plug 1 and Plug 2 taking their posts as elder statesmen of hip-hop and giving the culture a swift kick in the ass over a loop that Wu fans might find familiar. Pos explains:

"I've always loved the 'Intro' on Disc Two of Wu-Tang Forever "“ this erie sample with no beat, that they only talked over," De La Soul's Posdnuos tells Rolling Stone. "I stumbled on the original sample while crate digging one day, took it straight to the lab and added drums. The feel is definitely gritty, hard and sounds like a Wu record, so out of inspirational respect, we included featuring 'The Spirit of the Wu' in the song title."