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2023 has been a bittersweet year for Prince Paul. In a new interview, the pioneer discussed the passing of Dave aka Trugoy of, De La Soul and more.
Variety magazine caught up with the Long Island, New York native days after “The D.A.I.S.Y. Experience” event in New York, where he and other high-profile talents celebrated De La Soul’s catalog finally being made available on streaming platforms. In an in depth Q&A with journalist Todd Gilchrist, Prince Paul discussed reuniting, his contributions to the seminal 3 Feet High and Rising and more.
When asked about the “The D.A.I.S.Y. Experience” he admitted that the evening brought him back to simpler times with the legendary trio. “It felt like a reunion of sorts because I haven’t seen some people in 30 years — since De La Soul is from Amityville, we all have mutual friends, so they brought out a lot of those people” he revealed.
He also added that the amount of people that pulled up for it was also humbling. “The rappers that came out, the artists, the support was overwhelming. You knew people supported De La Soul, but you don’t really know — at least I didn’t really know — until that day. I haven’t felt that much love in one Hip-Hop event, I think, ever in my life.”
Paul also revealed that is he currently working on restoring the debut album for the digital era. To hear him tell it, the task at hand isn’t an easy one as he recognizes that he could be potentially mishandling a masterpiece. “You’ve got to figure out, okay, let me restore it. What’s the sample? Do we sample it again or do we replay it? And if we replay it, what’s the level of accuracy?” he explained.
Paul also reveals that he too was fearful that their sophomore album De La Soul is Dead, which was drastically different than its predecessor, would not be received well by fans. “I was like, ‘I don’t know how people are going to take this.’ That’s why I did the skit at the front, where the guy was like, ‘This is garbage!’ Because I was like, ‘I don’t know if people going to accept [this new attitude]’ so I’m going to beat them to the punch. I’m going to create a scenario that the record is already scrutinized. We’ll do it for you!”
You can read the interview in its entirety here.
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