Another one of the streaming era’s final holdouts has given way. De La Soul’s music will become available digitally by the end of 2021, the group announced on Instagram Live on August 10. “We have finally come down to a deal between ourselves and Reservoir Media to release our music in 2021,” Trugoy, a.k.a. David Jolicouer, said. “So our catalogue will be released this year.” The news comes after Tommy Boy Records, the label that the rap group has long struggled with, was acquired by Reservoir Media this June; at the time, a rep for Reservoir told Variety the company intended to work to get De La Soul’s music onto streaming. Trugoy credited the new owners with helping the group figure out a deal “pretty quick.” “Totally different approach than what was happening with Tommy Boy,” Trugoy continued. “And I’m not speaking to bash [owner] Tom Silverman or Tommy Boy in any way, but we are happy that that chapter’s over and done with and we’re looking forward to our relationship with Reservoir Media.” Tommy Boy previously aimed to put De La Soul’s music on streaming in 2019, to correspond with the 30th anniversary of the group’s debut 3 Feet High and Rising, but the group claimed the label would take most of the profits. A hugely influential alternative hip-hop group, De La Soul has released eight studio albums total, with only their final two, The Grind Date and And the Anonymous Nobody…, currently available digitally.
