thaFormula.com - Why do you think that grown folk hip hop is not available much in the mainstream like it should be?

De La Soul - Honestly, one of them I personally feel is that alot of grown folk abandon rap after a while. Alot of other people like myself are a fan of music and that's why I'm very sure you take time to see whatever is wrong with it and you address it because you pay attention to it. I think there is alot of people that I even grew up with that once they got to a certain age they sort of abandoned hip hop. They sort of left it and felt like you know now it's time for me to be more R&B and you know maybe me focusing on hip hop like I used to is to young for me to do. So I think grown folks themselves abandon it so people our age is left telling it to the youth. I think that's a problem and I think also the youth and along with anything unfortunately within our society, it sometimes will get to a point where what's younger or more or less new is better. So it's not even so much that it's younger people or younger artists doing the music that they are better then older artists but it's just something new to look at. It's like the new kick or clothing, or fad. Also it's tha way the industry is set up. Money is put behind these newer artists and this newer music and what's been there is not doing tha same amount of units because it's not being taken care of in tha same fashion or way so it ends up being put to tha side. But then also within our industry or rap music, you have great groups that had that respect who unfortunately they either broke up like a Tribe or a Pete & CL or a Fugees. So we had alot of great groups in place that had that grown folk mentality and was trying to make you move further like Goodie Mob and all them but then all these same groups break up themselves so they don't help play a part of tha game of keeping that balance there.

thaFormula.com - Does it annoy you being labeled an "Old School" group?

De La Soul - It's not so much annoying but I personally feel that the term itself, uh it depends who is saying it I honestly feel. I think like the term itself doesn't have that same effect that I would see. It would be almost like someone calling a gangster an O.G. In tha mafia if someone was old school that's respect. I think alot of times old school in urban or black music or especially within rap it's almost like you just not down no more. Your not consistent or current. Like when I hear 106 & Park they will say old school and then it will just be an Outkast song that was just out last year. So when you have someone like that saying that, I don't appreciate it.

thaFormula.com - Do tha labels even start to look at you as an "old school" artist?

De La Soul - Well I mean it's understandable man. I mean in a perfect world of how I wanted to be I wouldn't have a problem with that at all. Regardless De La is always gonna be De la and we always gonna do great music and like I said even when it's a label whether it's ICON or whatever, we never took heed to that either because we always see ourselves as students. You know just like how I'm 35 years old but I will always be my fathers son. I feel that way about this culture. You know, no matter how older I get I'm still a child in life and I'm still a child in the music and there is so much still to learn and our group never puts themselves above any group. We don't say yeah we tha ones who did this and we tha ones that made people do that. We don't waste our times with all that. I think that has remained to help us to stay fresh and committed to try new things and I think our music is still relevant and it's still music that if it's given a chance when people hear it they will love it.

thaFormula.com - Why do you feel that most artists from that golden era were not able to change with tha times and adapt to what is going on now?

De La Soul - It could be a situation where some of these artists don't want to adapt. Alot of times we as people don't wanna deal with what if this doesn't work? They are not ready to deal with that and when they start seeing things diminish maybe they start doing other things that goes outside of the thing that they were in and it doesn't come off natural and and doesn't help them stay around. It could also be that some groups had other goals. Maybe in their hearts they always wanted to be solo but they felt like this group is a vehicle for them to reach their dream of being a solo artist. You know you got a group like Wu Tang who were solo artists. They still come together as Wu Tang but maybe they don't do to much together as they used to. I think with De La, we were friends before tha music and like any friends, we have problems, we can't stand each other sometimes but at tha end of tha day we love each other. We would never wanna see any harm come to each other and we have this common goal of making sure that De La as a brand remains to be tha best it could be.

thaFormula.com - What do you look at as your favorite album to date?

De La Soul - My favorite album so far I would probably say is 'Bionix.' 3 Feet has a special place in my heart because obviously it was tha first album we ever done and everything was so brand new and it was just uncharted territory. You were just being shown something for tha first time and it was our first time out and so well received. But 'Bionix' I love and it's probably our least selling album obviously due to everything that happened with Tommy Boy while that album came out. But I just loved it from beginning to end, from tha skits, how it all came together and even tha pressure we was under towards tha end of tha album to finish that album so I love that album alot.

thaFormula.com - Where do you rate 'Buhloone Mind State' and do you think that was your most creative album?

De La Soul - That was a very creative album. It was an album where ourselves and Paul had tha talent and motivation to do all these great things and what I love about that album is that our access to all tha different people made us able to turnaround and put our longtime great mentors of like Maceo Parker or turnaround and putting our friends that happened to be great famous rappers in Japan. It was just so great to have all these different things and different boundaries being reached, but honestly funny enough "Buhloone Mind State" is probably my least favorite album. I mean like "I Am I Be" is probably one of my biggest and greatest records of all time but at tha end of tha day for me I see my albums differently, I don't view my album as a fan. I view all tha imperfections, all tha things that could have been better, my style of rhyme that could have been better that wasn't. It's just alot of things that I view on that album and all my albums. I love all my albums but if I had to put them in a order, "Buhloone Mind State" would probably be at tha bottom.

thaFormula.com - That's crazy, I always looked at it as your best without a doubt. Most people just never really understood that album when it dropped.

De La Soul - I totally agree with you and I hear it all tha time. Also, around that time of "Buhloone Mind State" you had Biggie coming out, Wu Tang had dropped and tha way rap was going at that time was just a whole new wave. Tribe had just did Midnight Marauders so it's like I just thought that Buhloone was just a little to relaxed for what we was doing. We had other stuff, but we just didn't put it on there because it just would have stood so far out next to all tha real cool and jazzy type of stuff that we was doing with Buhloone as a whole.

thaFormula.com - You know I thought 'Bionix' was a great album but I noticed tha reviews weren't that great for it. It seems that tha biggest problem in hip hop now is that people just don't want to let go of tha past and accept that times have changed?

De La Soul - I hear you man and that's my whole point. One thing that I have learned from reading through alot of great authors man is that tha one constant thing is change and if something is not growing, it is dead. That was tha whole purpose of "De La Soul Is Dead." It was saying that we were Metamorphosizing into something else outside of '3 Feet High & Rising.' We were growing, we were constantly getting older. Each album is just documented of us from whether it's age 16 to 18 to then 18 to whatever. That's what it is. We are growing as men, growing as fathers and I'm happy when I have an album that shows and documents what were going through as people because that's what De La Soul has always been about.

thaFormula.com - So you got tha new album "The Grind Date" dropping September 28th. What's left for De La to do that they haven't done?

De La Soul - There is always alot man and one thing I been blessed to understand is that outside of this rap game is a bigger picture and that's life and you can't put even what has happened in tha past and all tha books in tha world and grasp it. I mean knowledge is infinite so there is never ever a limit to what you can say or what you can do cause even what your saying you can say it in a different way and I think De La Soul coming out in 1988 was a testament to that. We talked about sucker mc's biting my rhymes but we called it "Potholes In My Lawn." You can flip things, you can change things. It's like telephone numbers in that there is so many different combinations you can do things and I think that when you as a person think that you can't, that's when it's over for you and that's when you can't go no further.

feedback: info@thaformula.com

Be  sure to join the over 600,000 Industry Heads that have signed up to our exclusive mailing list!!  Click here to join and receive exclusive interviews only available to members. Leave contact info ( name, email address, city, state, and country) at info@thaformula.com.