Hip Hop trio De LA Soul came up with a unique way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first album, 3 Ft High And Rising. Rather than release a deluxe edition like some groups would, they decided to give downloads of the album away for free. The group also posted the rest of their catalog on their site.
For 25 hours, all four of De La Soul’s albums will be available on WeareDeLaSoul.com. In addition, their remix albums and rarities will also be available. The music is available until Saturday at noon.
De La Soul member Posdnuos told Rolling Stone that the decision was made to give fans the opportunity to have all of their work. “It's been too long where our fans haven't had access to everything. This is our way of showing them how much we love them,” he said.
It turns out that their influential use of samples, some of which were used without license, has come back to bite them, as their music is not available on most digital stores. Billboard notes that they haven’t even been able to get their music up on iTunes.
“It's been a trying journey,” Posdnous told Rolling Stone. “We've been blessed to be in the Library of Congress, but we can't even have our music on iTunes. We've been working very hard to get that solved.”
De La Soul is also working on new material, which of course will also be available on their site. You're Welcome, their first album since 2004, should be out this summer the EP Premium Soul on the Rocks is set for release in March. The EP will feature three beats each from DJ Premier and Pete Rock.
image courtesy of Amazon