De La Soul Faces Controversy With Previous Record Label Tommy Boy

The group spoke to Billboard about the ongoing battle with Tommy Boy, the support they’ve received from Questlove and Jay-Z, the 30th anniversary of 3 Feet High and Rising and more.

In regards to 3 Feet High, the group’s debut album, De La spoke about how the anniversary feels bittersweet while reflecting on the album’s creation.

“It shifted culture and it gave inspiration and gave a template for what a lot of other rappers were doing, especially the skits. I haven’t said this, they said this, the artists themselves. It’s in the library of Congress. It’s a part of American history. It’s one of the records that opened up a new business for lawyers in the world of sampling. It’s a historical piece,” Maseo said before explaining how the album has missed out on the digital era. “Moments and times where I look at people like Missy Elliott when she performed ‘Work It’ maybe 15 years after it was out at a football game and it had a million plus downloads after she did that one performance. We have had more performances like that over the course of our career and we never had the opportunity to benefit from that media.”

From there, the trio discussed how Quest spoke out against Tommy Boy when he took to Instagram and shared a post of a prohibition sign over the Tommy Boy label image along with the #TommyBoycott.

“A lot of these people were hitting us directly because they were disappointed and concerned. You have one person who’s like, ‘Fuck that. I’m setting it off,’” Pos said

Source