{"id":655759,"date":"2026-10-24T13:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T13:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655759\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T13:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T13:08:09","slug":"de-la-souls-posdnuos-tupac-saved-me-from-getting-beat-up-in-the-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655759\/","title":{"rendered":"De La Soul’s Posdnuos: “Tupac saved me from getting beat up in the Bay Area”"},"content":{"rendered":"

1Which \u201990s sitcom did De La Soul<\/a> turn down the opportunity to star in? <\/p>\n

\u00a0Posdnuos: \u201cThe Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.\u201d<\/p>\n

CORRECT.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the same managers as Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince<\/a>. They thought that any of the three members of De La Soul should try out for the TV show, but we didn\u2019t \u2013 we were so in touch with music. These days, artists say, \u2018Let me rhyme, sing, tap-dance, pole vault!\u2019 Back then, it was like, wait a minute, you want us to do something other than rhyme?! We can\u2019t do that. We didn\u2019t even take it seriously. We were asked to try out for all the movies that rappers were in \u2013 whether it was Who\u2019s The Man?,\u00a0Juice\u00a0or\u00a0Bamboozled\u00a0\u2013 but we were more into the craft of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

2De La Soul won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for your feature on Gorillaz<\/a> \u2018Feel Good Inc.\u2019 Name any of the four acts you beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cAy-ay-ay! We opened the show with Madonna<\/a>, but I don\u2019t think she would have been in that category.\u201d<\/p>\n

WRONG. You beat: Black Eyed Peas<\/a> and Jack Johnson<\/a> (for \u2018Gone Going\u2019), Foo Fighters<\/a> and Norah Jones<\/a> (\u2018Virginia Moon\u2019), Herbie Hancock<\/a> and Christina Aguilera<\/a> (\u2018A Song For You\u2019)\u00a0 and Stevie Wonder<\/a> and India.Arie<\/a> (\u2018A Time to Love\u2019).<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have never remembered that! [Laughs] Opening the Grammys<\/a> performing with Gorillaz holograms and Madonna was amazing \u2013 she\u2019s a creative force to be reckoned with that we\u2019ve all played students to. Being on the same stage with her in any capacity was overwhelming \u2013 in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you realise when you first heard \u2018Feel Good Inc.\u2019 that it was a hit?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo clue! We had a friend who knew them, who asked: would you want to do something with Gorillaz? We replied, of course! Once we got talking with Damon [Albarn<\/a>], he sent us a bunch of songs and \u2018Feel Good Inc.\u2019 wasn\u2019t even part of those. The song we actually chose was \u2018Kids With Guns\u2019*, which we put rhymes to and Mase [De La Soul bandmate] worked with Damon on to add extra production. After we finished \u2018Kids With Guns\u2019, Damon was in another room playing Dave [Trugoy, De La Soul member who died in 2023] some other stuff he was working on. Dave ran out and said: \u2018You got to hear this one\u2019 \u2013 it was the early stages of \u2018Feel Good Inc.\u2019. The rest is history.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave immediately wanted to write something to it, but the next day we had to head back to the States because we had two weeks to hand in our album \u2018The Grind Date<\/a>\u2019. Damon said: \u2018Pos, Dave is in the zone, let him do what he needs to do on \u2018Feel Good Inc.\u2019 Then I\u2019ll send the song to y\u2019all and you\u2019ll have a few weeks before you need to turn it in.\u2019 But once Dave did what he did, that was the magic of it, so he stayed on the track by himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

De La Soul collaborated with Gorillaz on numerous tracks. Any plans to work together again?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would never force anything, but if Damon needs us, we\u2019re there for it. We\u2019d love to.\u201d<\/p>\n

*\u2019Kids With Guns\u2019 ultimately featured\u00a0Neneh Cherry\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

3In 2004, which De La Soul track became the first ever hip-hop song played on Mars?<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Potholes In My Lawn\u2019?<\/p>\n

CORRECT. By NASA\u2019s Opportunity Rover.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhew! The brain is still working! [Laughs] We were kids that were originally considered very different to what was going on. We played along by calling ourselves Martians who were transmitting live from Mars<\/a>, so to know our music has been played in space is win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n

4Can you remember any of the questions posed on the gameshow-themed \u2018Intro\u2019 skit from De La Soul\u2019s debut album, \u20183 Feet High And Rising\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cOh boy! I know this, but my brain is saying, \u2018I\u2019m not going to play with you\u2019 [Laughs]. \u2018What does \u2018Tuhs eht lleh pu\u2019 mean?\u2019 and\u00a0 \u2018How many times did the Batmobile catch a flat?, maybe?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

CORRECT. You could have also had: How many feathers are on a Perdue chicken? How many fibres are intertwined in a Shredded Wheat biscuit?\u201d<\/p>\n

You pioneered the rap skit\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came about because when we should have been rehearsing and the cassette was on, Dave would suddenly start rhyming in an accent or we\u2019d clown around \u2013 and it would be recorded. We\u2019d end up having five-20 minutes of us fooling around before we got down to business. When we let [producer] Prince Paul hear it, he thought it was crazy. He would show us tapes of him and his friends dubbing voices over karate tapes and having fun. Once we started working on \u20183 Feet High And Rising\u2019, we knew we needed those elements on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

5Which cult 2001 video game do De La Soul appear in?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m scrolling through the Rolodex in my memory\u2026 PaRappa The Rapper 2?\u201d<\/p>\n

CORRECT. Your tie-in single, \u2018Say, I Gotta Believe\u2019, plays on the title screen if left idle.<\/p>\n

6You\u2019re releasing a 30th anniversary edition of De La Soul\u2019s fourth album \u2018Stakes Is High\u2019. What score did NME award it in its original review<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I know is they loved the first one so much*, so I\u2019ll be humble and say 6\/10?\u201d<\/p>\n

CORRECT.<\/p>\n

\u201cYEAH! \u2018Stakes is High\u2019 is one of my favourite albums. At that point in our careers, we were already considered veterans. We were still fairly young men, but we didn\u2019t know if the world was still down to hear what De La Soul had to say. Our third album \u2018Buhloone Mindstate\u2019 hadn\u2019t made the mark that some of our peers like A Tribe Called Quest<\/a> were making with their albums. We were disillusioned. We were all young fathers. We felt there needed to be more positive messaging in hip-hop culture. That\u2019s what \u2018Stakes Is High\u2019 was for us \u2013 it was our Marvin Gaye<\/a> \u2018What\u2019s Going On\u2019. Listening to it now, it still holds weight and feels fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was partly a critique of the excess of gangsta rap.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. A lot of Dave\u2019s lyrics \u2013 particularly on the title track \u2013 approached the industry. If you look at my rhymes, it was a critique on where life was for me and also the culture of hip-hop. Even if we were addressing gangsta rap or the mafioso personas that was going on, it wasn\u2019t to make fun of NWA<\/a> or Wu-Tang<\/a> \u2013 the issue was there was 700 other groups with the same philosophy. We came from a point in 1989 where you could have NWA and Geto Boys<\/a>, but then you\u2019d also have DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and De La Soul. You could have different characters. When it felt like everyone was only picking from one way of looking at things, we were just questioning that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it surprising when Tupac<\/a> mistakenly assumed your \u2018Ego Trippin\u2019\u2019 video was making fun of his visuals for \u2018I Get Around\u2019? \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurt. It definitely surprised us because Pac was, in our mind, a good friend. We got to know him through Digital [Underground]. We had so much fun at different times when we would hang out. Pac saved me from getting beat up when I was in the [San Francisco] Bay Area. After an amazing show, I was in the parking lot about to head back to the hotel, and some kids saw me and wanted to start trouble \u2013 and Pac neutralised it. He shut it down. He was like, \u2018Yo Pos, be careful.\u2019 Pac was that type of dude. He was loving, so it was sad that happened with the \u2018Ego Trippin\u2019\u2019 video.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the \u2018Ego Trippin\u2019 video, we were supposed to be play all the parts. The guy in the pool with the girls was supposed to be me, but I wasn\u2019t comfortable being shirtless in a tub with a bunch of chicks. [Laughs] They needed to find someone else, and it wound up being someone who was dark-skinned and bald-headed. To me, he looked more like R. Kelly<\/a>. So it was crazy that Pac felt like that part was making fun of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause, initially, the video would have shown that De La Soul is visually making fun of ourselves in the same way we did in our album skits. It was a hard pill to swallow because even after that, he dissed us in some tracks<\/a> that wound up on his \u2018The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory\u2019 record.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I thought was dope was I met his sister a few years later and she said, \u2018Pac really loved y\u2019all.\u2019 He was just hurt when he thought we were doing something that could be disrespectful to him, and he lashed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen his manager at the time told us Pac was upset, I got his number and called him. Pac didn\u2019t pick up, but I left him a message saying. \u2018Please call me, we love you and would never do anything like that.\u2019 Hopefully he heard the message.\u201d<\/p>\n

*\u20183 Feet High And Rising\u2019 was NME\u2019s Best Album of 1989<\/a>.<\/p>\n

7Which hip-hop duo recorded a 2009 sequel to De La Soul\u2019s 1991 cut \u2018Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa\u2019 titled \u2018Millie Fell Off The Fire Escape<\/a>? <\/p>\n

\u201cDarn it, I know this but I can\u2019t see their name! Gah!\u201d<\/p>\n

WRONG. Atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cARGGGHHH! I heard it when they first did it. Shucks!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

8In 2016, which former footballer (and De La Soul superfan) did you perform \u2018Me Myself And I\u2019 with on Sky\u2019s A League Of Their Own?<\/p>\n

\u201cYikes! I don\u2019t know this.\u201d<\/p>\n

WRONG. Jamie Redknapp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI barely remember that. I need to watch it on YouTube.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of proper De La Soul collabs, have any stood out as your favourites?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always approached collaborations from what we learned from Prince Paul. Ask \u2013 all they can do is say no. To have a song with Chaka Khan<\/a> [\u2018All Good?\u2019] was insane. We had so much fun with her in the studio. And then David Byrne<\/a> on \u2018Snoopies\u2019 started out as a joke. We were working on something from the \u2018And The Anonymous Nobody\u2026\u2019 album and I made a joke: \u2018How do we do this? Because this sounds like a Talking Heads<\/a> record.\u2019 Everyone laughed, but then we thought, \u2018Why don\u2019t we see if David Byrne would get on this record?\u2019 We sent him the track, he immediately said yes, and started communicating with me, saying, \u2018Yo Pos, I thought about this\u2026\u2019 So I\u2019ve got a track of him humming, saying, \u2018This is the melody I heard.\u2019 That David Byrne was showing me his process was mind-blowing!\u201d<\/p>\n

You said \u2018all they can do is say no\u2019. Who have turned you down?<\/p>\n

\u201cHundreds of thousands of people! [Laughs] We wanted Lenny Kravitz<\/a> to play electric guitar on \u2018Rock Co.Kane Flow\u2019, but he was on tour. We wanted Willie Nelson<\/a> to be on \u2018Unfold\u2019. We wanted Mary J. Blige<\/a> to do something \u2013 she passed. On our latest album [\u2018Cabin in the Sky<\/a>\u2019], Tyler, The Creator<\/a> and Doja Cat<\/a> both passed. It\u2019s part of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to NME<\/a> last year, you revealed you had unreleased material with MF DOOM<\/a> and Mac Miller<\/a>. Will they ever see the light of day?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Mac Miller one will, if his estate loves it. We never want to put anything out that\u2019s just being used at a certain time to benefit us because, \u2018Oh wait a minute, it was DOOM\u2019s birthday, let\u2019s put this DOOM track out\u2019. We love it to come out but it\u2019s about making sure it\u2019s at the right time and everyone involved approves. We always take a fresh approach, so those tracks don\u2019t sound dated.\u201d<\/p>\n

9Which The Wizard Of Oz character do you play in De La Soul\u2019s \u2018Oooh\u2019 video? <\/p>\n

\u201cScarecrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

CORRECT.<\/p>\n

\u201cI developed claustrophobia from that video, because all of us had moulds made of our faces. You had a bucket around your neck and a straw in your mouth. They pour in all the liquid until it hardens. As it got up to my ears, I freaked out and they had to rip it off. Since then, if I\u2019m in a confined space, my lungs start tightening up. I can\u2019t go through car washes anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

10What were De La Soul carrying on the cover of NME in October 1989? (Clue: the headline was \u2018Don\u2019t Fear the Rapper\u2019)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m not mistaken, I had a NWA shirt on and was holding a scythe like the Grim Reaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

CORRECT.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved that cover and framed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DeCREDIT: De La Soul\/NME
\nThe verdict: 7\/10<\/p>\n

\u201cNot bad! It would have been horrible to fail at De La Soul questions!\u201d<\/p>\n

De La Soul\u2019s \u2018Stakes Is High\u2019 30th Anniversary Edition is out now and available for purchase here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1Which \u201990s sitcom did De La Soul turn down the opportunity to star in? \u00a0Posdnuos: \u201cThe Fresh Prince…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[175283,146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-655759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-does-rock-n-roll-kill-braincells","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}