Amityville's De La Soul marks 35th anniversary of landmark album '3 Feet High and Rising'
Amityville's De La Soul (Kelvin Mercer aka Posdnuos, from left, Vincent Lamont Mason Jr. aka Maseo and the late David Jude Jolicoeur aka Trugoy the Dove) in performance. Credit: Getty Images / Dimitrios Kambouris
For the iconic hip-hop group De La Soul, it’s 1989 all over again.
The Amityville crew is celebrating the 35th anniversary of its groundbreaking album “3 Feet High and Rising” with a commemorative rerelease, a New York City record-store appearance and a March 7 performance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The burst of activity from De La Soul comes almost exactly a year after founding member David Jude “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur died following a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. That makes De La Soul no longer a trio but a duo, featuring Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer and Vincent Lamont “Maseo” Mason Jr.
Released in 1989, “3 Feet High and Rising” broke from hip-hop’s tough-guy tradition with its flower-power cover-art, whimsical lyrics about suburban life and a kitchen-sink approach to sampling. Produced by fellow Amityviller Prince Paul, the album also featured a series of comedic skits that — for better and for worse — inspired generations of rappers to follow suit. Its biggest single, “Me Myself and I,” reached No. 1 on the dance club, R&B and rap charts and helped the album reach certified gold status (it later went platinum). In 2010, “3 Feet High and Rising” was entered into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry of albums that are deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
A new digital release of the album, available Friday, will feature several bonus tracks, including “Ain’t Hip to Be Labelled a Hippie” and “Jenifa Taught Me (12” Version),” along with two demos recorded in Maseo’s basement. A new animated lyric video for the bonus track “Freedom of Speak (We Got Three Minutes),” debuted Feb. 21 on YouTube. All tracks have been remastered in stereo and Atmos.
On March 3, De La Soul will hold an in-store signing at Rough Trade Records in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center. That will be followed by a live performance on the Colbert show, though an airdate has yet to be announced.
Despite the title of their 1991 album, “De La Soul is Dead,” the group has kept busy in recent years. The trio frequently collaborated with Gorillaz, winning a Grammy Award for their 2005 song “Feel Good Inc.” Posdnuos performed at last year’s Grammys as part of a star-studded celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Also last year, De La Soul’s first six albums — long mired in legal problems due to sampling rights — were finally released to digital streaming for the first time.
