BY ELIJAH C. WATSON • MARCH 12 2019

In an age where countless veteran rap acts are benefiting off of nostalgia, pioneering hip-hop group De La Soul hasn’t fully been able to do the same.
De La Soul‘s debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, recently turned 30. The occasion should’ve been celebratory: a rollout of its proper introduction to digital and streaming services, a tour, and any of the other indicators that often come with an album’s anniversary.

Instead, De La is in an ongoing battle over not only 3 Feet High but the five albums that came after it. The rap trio claims that Tom Silverman, CEO and founder of the Tommy Boy record label that released their first six albums, offered them a 90/10 split of the profits if he were to take their music to streaming services after reacquiring the albums from Warner Bros. De La has criticized the deal as “unfair” on social media and have received support from Nas, Questlove, and Pete Rock. JAY-Z’s Tidal also released a statement saying the service wouldn’t stream De La’s early catalog until a deal was settled between the group and Silverman.

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