De La Soul: Anonymously Legendary

And the Anonymous Nobody by De La Soul finally arrived in my inbox to download last week. The legendary Hip Hop group originally promised the album would be released in 2015. Things happen, but as the old saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait”. De La Soul is at a point in their career that transcends proving themselves to anyone. After all, they have been making music for nearly 30 years now. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from their new Kickstarter funded album. Yes and the Anonymous Nobody, is a product of crowd funding. High profile acts such as Lalah Hathaway and TLC have also turned to crowd funding to produce their latest albums. However, after listening to De La Soul’s latest release, here are 4 reasons why De La Soul has proven their worth with this Kickstarter.

A Super Extended Jam Session

When the group first sat down to discuss the new album, they immediately agreed upon a different route for the music. Instead of trying to get sample clearances from other songs, they opted to use over 200 hours of live jam sessions from various musicians (primarily in Los Angeles). Posdnous, Maseo and Dave took sifted through those songs to create the tracks that would become and the Anonymous Nobody. What was the end result? An amazing and more importantly, original sound.

We Are The Nobodies

This may sound like a slap in the face at first, but part of the name for De La Soul’s name album came from the fans. All of the nobodies (people they may never get a chance to meet and only see their names) came together to contribute to the album. This is their way of saying thank you by carrying the weight of the album’s name with the fans. This is yet another example of why De La Soul’s career has spanned nearly three decades. Together, all of those “nobodies” generated over half a million dollars to ensure this album saw the light of day.

The 411 Never Lets Up

I have personally backed several Kickstarters in the past couple of years. De La Soul, along with their dedicated Kickstarter communication team, kept backers in the know at all times. There was never a time where I felt like I was in the dark about the album’s progress. Howard, who personally backed $600 and still backed the project, even sent out a form of an apology for naysayers expecting more from the Kickstarter. Despite the delays with the album and occasional glitches, this Kickstarter campaign should serve as a model for other artists to pay attention to.

World Music

This one times into the jam session De La Soul so cleverly used as the backbone for their tracks. Although they are a Hip Hop group, there’s a sound for everyone here. Jill Scott opens with her own track on the theatrical “Genesis”. “Royalty Capes” effortlessly blends jazz, funk and soul while the trio acknowledges their well-deserved legendary status. The song has a very poetic vibe.  “Lord Intended” featuring Justin Hawkins has a high energy, hard rock sound with blaring guitars. “Whoodeeni” featuring 2Chainz has a heavy bass, thumping swagger that’s irresistible. Don’t mistake it though; De La Soul more than holds their own without the guest features too.

Plus, check out the behind the scenes footage of the making of and the Anonymous Nobody here.