Tommy Boy Records

De La Soul Addressed Their Fight To Gain Control Of Their Catalog After Years Of Legal Issues With Tommy Boy Records

by

Just months before Hip-hop’s 50th commemoration, De La Soul shared that their entire catalog would finally be available on streaming platforms for the first time. As one of rap music’s most impactful trios, fans jump for joy knowing that their years-long battle with former label Tommy Boy Records had finally ended. Unfortunately, beloved member Trugoy died before it could happen.

Now that their critically acclaimed bodies of work are available for all to enjoy, Maseo and Posdnuos addressed their fight to gain control of their catalog. The group discussed their lengthy legal pursuit in the teaser clip for their upcoming appearance on People’s Party with Talib Kweli.

“I’m going to be very candid and very real; it was like freeing the slaves but adding vagrancy laws,” said Maseo. Vagrancy laws were enacted to essentially make it a crime for an individual to loiter. For decades, vagrancy laws have been criticized as an attack on unhoused people.

With his statement, Maseo seemingly touches on the rumors that the group almost were given their rights to the past works but were told they wouldn’t be allowed to monetize it any further. This was at the root of online speculation after negotiations between parties were shut down in 2019.

Maseo continued, “[The deal] was almost like giving me a house that I couldn’t do nothing with… the wordplay in the contracts. I have a house I can live in, but I can’t sell it. I can’t control nothing [in it], but I can live inside of it. That just wasn’t going to work for me or my crew. It was another form of slavery, in my opinion.”

Maseo’s wife, Tina, played a critical role in his desire to push forward. “The more we continued to talk about it [I realized] we were talking about a new deal over old music and [look at] the age we’re at, at the same time… What future opportunity are we really talking about?.. The more I assessed this thing, we’re in a business where we are worth more dead than alive. So, it was really about negotiating that deal based on death and life. Knowing the realities of the business that we are in,” proclaimed Maseo.

He closed by saying, “It was a tough decision to make, but God was on our side. My wife was on my side, and it worked out for the best. It wasn’t even Tommy Boy that made it right. It was the new owners of the catalog that did. Tommy Boy… Tom Silverman would’ve never made it right.”

Watch the full clip above.

Why Were De La Soul’s First Six Albums Not On Streaming Services?

by
de la soul
Getty Image

Iconic hip-hop trio De La Soul’s entire discography will finally be available across streaming platforms this spring. But, with the catalog dating back to 1989, what took the group’s music so long to reach digital streaming platforms? After several failed attempts behind the scenes to agree with their former record label, Tommy Boy, emcees Posdnuos, Trugoy, and Maseo took to social media to air their grievances.

The legal battle began back in 2018. Then, the Long Island natives began planning to release their first six albums on streaming servers in 2019 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. Still, they weren’t pleased with the terms Tommy Boy brought to the negotiating table.

On February 26, 2019, the group took to Instagram to reveal the details behind the meeting, writing, “the music will be released digitally,” by Tommy Boy. Still, the group would not be paid fairly, “your purchases will roughly go 90% Tommy Boy, 10% De La,” as the trio allegedly still owed the label 2 million dollars in unrecovered debt.

Quickly fans were outraged by the label’s plans to move forward without the group being onboard, sparking the hashtag #BoycottToyboyRecords. Fellow rapper Jay Z shared in this anger. As the owner of the streaming platform, Tidal, his company refused to upload the albums to its server until De La Soul was satisfied with the financial terms.

The label even attempted to enforce a confidential agreement to restrict the group from speaking on a deal if one had been reached with the public.

Fast-forward to August 8, 2019, the group shared an update on the matter, writing, “After 30 years of profiting from our music and hard work and after seven long months of stalled negotiations, we are sad to say that we’ve been unable to reach an agreement and earn Tommy Boy’s respect for our music/legacy.”

The label shot down the group’s attempt to gain control over their master recordings. The group wrote on Instagram, “Tommy Boy says they are ‘not in the business of giving artists back their masters,’” adding, “Be aware, all parties involved will profit, but De La Soul will not benefit or earn deservedly/fairly. We really tried.”

With the public’s support, the group continued to fight for their music back, even appearing in the animated show Teen Titans Go! in February 2021. The episode featured De La Soul fighting an octopus trying to steal their music (a metaphor for Tommy Boy Records).

Then in August 2021, Talib Kweli revealed the group had reached an agreement with Tommy Boy in an Instagram post captioned, “After years of being taken advantage of by the recording industry in the worst possible ways, De La Soul now owns all the rights to their masters and is in full control of the amazing music they have created.”

Now, Tommy Boy Records has been acquired by Reservoir Media. In a statement, Reservoir’s Executive Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development, Faith Newman, addressed the matter, saying, “As someone who has devoted my life to hip-hop for over 30 years, my relationship with the guys in De La Soul dates back to my early days in the industry, and I can attest to how influential their catalog is to the genre.”

Newman added, “When Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy, the first call we made was to De La Soul. We vowed to bring their music to streaming, and it means the world to our team to make good on that promise and expose a whole new generation of listeners to one of the most important catalogs in hip-hop history.”

De La Soul’s first albums will be available on streaming platforms on March 3.

After Years Of Roadblocks, De La Soul’s Music Is Finally Coming To Streaming Services In 2023

by
De La Soul Sway In The Morning SiriusXM 2019
Getty Image

With a platinum plaque, two gold records, and a Grammy Award to their names, you would think rap trio De La Soul’s catalog would be available for enjoyment across streaming platforms. But, unfortunately for the Library Of Congress inductees, due to several legal issues — including potential earning disputes with their record label, Tommy Boy — emcees Posdnuos (real name Kelvin Mercer), Trugoy (real name David Jude Jolicoeur), and Maseo (real name Vincent Lamont Mason Jr.) never signed off on the agreement.

Now that Reservoir Media has acquired the label, the pioneer posse’s music will be uploaded to streaming services this spring thanks to distribution from its subsidiary Chrysalis Records.

In a joint statement, the Long Island natives spoke on the news, saying, “We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith, and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen.”

Streaming giant Spotify took to Twitter to let their subscribers know De La Soul’s catalog will be accessible on its platform on Friday, March 3, to mark the 34th anniversary of the release of De La Soul’s N0. 1 debut album, 3 Feet High And Rising.

As for what music will be uploaded, a statement shared from Reservoir Media shared, “[we are] pleased to share that De La Soul’s first six albums, ‘3 Feet High and Rising’ (1989), ‘De La Soul Is Dead’ (1991), ‘Buhloone Mindstate’ (1993), ‘Stakes Is High’ (1996), ‘Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump’ (2000), and ‘AOI: Bionix’ (2001), will be available to fans everywhere.”

Reservoir’s Executive Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development, Faith Newman, who is also a fan of the group, shared how important this news is to the greater music community, saying, “As someone who has devoted my life to hip-hop for over 30 years, my relationship with the guys in De La Soul dates back to my early days in the industry, and I can attest to how influential their catalog is to the genre.”

Newman later added, “When Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy, the first call we made was to De La Soul. We vowed to bring their music to streaming, and it means the world to our team to make good on that promise and expose a whole new generation of listeners to one of the most important catalogs in hip-hop history.”

As a treat, De La Soul will release their hit single “The Magic Number” earlier (on January 13) to hold their fans over until their entire discography is made available.

De La Soul’s ‘Spider-Man’ Soundtrack Placement Frustrates Fans Who Find They Can’t Stream It

by
de la soul
Getty Image

De La Soul‘s streaming woes are well-documented at this point, but now that the crew has landed a soundtrack placement on the biggest movie of the year, new fans are finding themselves frustrated to learn that the pioneer trio’s catalog is unavailable on DSP. The crew’s 3 Feet High And Rising song “The Magic Number” appears over the end credits of Spider-Man: No Way Home, undoubtedly sending many of the film’s viewers to Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal only to discover that the only two De La Soul albums available are The Grind Date and The Anonymous Nobody.

And while both albums are worth several spins, most of De La’s most recognizable work comes from earlier in their career, when they were still under contract with Tommy Boy Entertainment. The trouble with streaming the albums stems from their extensive sample use; over the course of their six projects under Tommy Boy, the band used hundreds of samples of prior works — 3 Feet High And Rising contains 60 samples by itself. While Tommy Boy cleared most of those samples, the contracts only covered physical releases, the only method for releasing music through the ’80s and ’90s. With the advent of streaming, the label considers the albums open to a plethora of potential lawsuits and not worth the hassle of uploading.

The band themselves have offered to take on the intricate work of clearing all the samples backed by an army of volunteers who just want to be able to stream the albums they love, only to get rebutted by Tommy Boy. Earlier this year, De La Soul apparently won back their master recordings after Reservoir Media acquired Tommy Boy for around $100 million, but now comes the nitty-gritty work of actually clearing all those samples, which could take some time considering the age of the records and the labyrinthine nature of copyright law. While the appearance of “The Magic Number” on Spider-Man’s soundtrack could be a promising sign that at least the work has begun (the song mainly samples Bob Dorough’s “Three Is a Magic Number”), all those new fans will have to join the grizzled vets in waiting impatiently for that work to be completed to stream De La’s greatest hits.