De La Soul Enlist Damon Albarn, David Byrne, 2 Chainz, Little Dragon for Kickstarter-Funded Album

De La Soul have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their eighth album, their first since 2004′s The Grind Date. The LP will feature Damon Albarn, David Byrne (on a track called “Snoopies”), 2 Chainz (on “Whodini”), and Little Dragon (on “Drawn”). Another track is titled “Devil Wears Candy”. They’re set to begin recording next month. The Kickstarter seeks to raise $110,000.

The album will feature samples culled entirely from original recordings from De La Soul and the Rhythm Roots All-Stars. In a statement, Dave Jude Jolicoeur, aka Trugoy, said, “One way to look at this is that we’re sampling ourselves. So far, we’ve got over 200 hours of tape—we’ve been recording this music for years and finally we’ve got what we need to make the best De La Soul record ever.”

Kelvin “Pos” Mercer adeed, “It’s not like we had a pre-formed idea of what we wanted to sample and then told some band to play it for us. We just got into the studio with the All-Stars and let the music flow where it felt like flowing. And it was amazing. We didn’t start planning what we’d sample until much later.”

De La Soul have a long and complicated history with sampling. In 1991, they were sued by the Turtles over a track on 3 Feet High and Rising, one of the first sampling lawsuits in history. Last year, they released their entire back catalog for free download; sample clearance issues, among other reasons, have kept their music off digital services.

Naturally, they’re also offering some major rewards as incentive for helping them make the record happen. 

If you contribute to their Kickstarter, here’s what you could get, among many other rewards:

• A shopping trip with De La Soul (toy shopping with Dave, record shopping with Maseo, or sneaker shopping with Pos)
• A Skype date with the trio
• Thumb drives in the shape of each member’s head
• De La Soul Nike sneakers
• A day in the studio with the group, during which you record vocals for a skit on the album
• A custom print
• A boom box from Dave’s personal collection or an MPC from Pos’ collection
• Dave’s gold record plaque for 3 Feet High and Rising

(Correction: A custom album cover will not be offered.)

Joliceur explained their decision to fund the album via Kickstarter: 

There’s a real freedom in laying down tracks in the studio knowing that the fans are the ones directly supporting the record being made, not to mention there’s a motivation to really push the limits and make something great. That’s just not there when the direct support is coming from a label that’s mainly concerned with getting a product out, making as much profit as possible from it, and then moving on to the next one. That’s not to say profit doesn’t matter and all labels are bad—but just that it definitely lights a fire under the artist when your support is coming from the people who really understand your story and your direction. It’s a beautiful place to be.

Here’s the video for “Me Myself and I”:

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