De La Soul Sequels Underway
April 12 -- The group whose album title proclaimed De La Soul Is Dead in 1991 is about as dead as Jason from Friday the 13th — the trio has many sequels in the works.
Posdnous (born Kevin Mercer) says De La Soul is planning to revive last year's Spitkicker Tour this summer, "and hopefully annually." The trek is tentatively in the works to kick off in mid-July and run into late summer.
"Looks like Snoop Dogg is going to come on board with that one," Posdnous says of the lineup. "Ludacris is going to do some dates with us in the South, and I'm hearing that Tariq [Trotter, a k a Black Thought] from The Roots is interested in doing some dates, because he's releasing a solo album."
The trio is aiming to release its own album on the heels of the tour — volume two of the three-part Art Official Intelligence series. Tracks completed by the group include collaborations with B Real of Cypress Hill, pop band LFO, and Best New Artist Grammy nominee Jill Scott.
However, De La Soul fans have learned not to mark the calendar with indelible ink — the first volume of the series was issued more than half a year after the initial release date. Mase, whose real name is Vincent Mason, explains, "We're never going to rush a project. We're going to put it out when it feels good to us."
Perhaps to cut down the inevitable delays separating the second and third volumes, Mase says he's already preparing material for the third edition — which will place more emphasis on the DJ, his own role in the band.
Mase says he's lining up some of his favorite DJs — including Funkmaster Flex, Tony Touch, Kid Capri, and Japan's DJ Muro — to contribute to the project — and he says he plans on doing more rapping than he has in the past.
"I've been seriously working on it, because it takes a lot of time to write rhymes, stuff like that," he says. "I'm excited, especially now that everybody's kind of anticipating to hear me a little bit more vocally, so, it's feeling good."
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