It’s been 20 years and De La Soul‘s seminal album Stakes Is High still holds its own as not only a definitive work by the Long Island trio but a classic from that era. In their own words, Maseo and Posdnuos gave Okayplayer the inside scoop on the times and circumstances surrounding the record, the creative process behind specific songs, beefs with Naughty By Nature and Tupac, and how the album changed their lives, respectively.

Maseo: That record was a milestone, that record was do or die… I mean the whole energy around developing that record, it was a crucial place of not knowing if we was going to continue or we going to be forced to go get regular jobs and become common folk… because we came off of Buhloone Mindstate which didn’t have much success at all.

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