De La Soul Drops 10th Studio Album With Nas, Q-Tip and More

Iconic hip hop group, De La Soul, has returned with a new project.

Cabin In The Sky, marks De La Soul’s first studio album in nine years, following 2016’s and the Anonymous Nobody, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. It’s also the first album since the passing of founding member Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur at the age of 54 in 2023.

The album is being released via Mass Appeal as part of the label’s celebrated “Legend Has It” series. The year-long series comprises of releases from some of New York hip-hop’s most iconic names, helmed by Nas.

“I can say without question [Dave] is here, his spirit, his energy, it’s very much a part of this album,” Pos told Billboard in 2023. “Anything that he had placed in certain songs that we chose to use, all of that is felt. In that regard alone, that’s a success. But I really, really feel like De La fans are going to love this album.”

One of the ways Dave is represented on the album is the title and cover art, which features two figures with their heads in the clouds, with a cabin on top of the clouds.

“It plays off our own partner who has transitioned and where he is,” Pos says. “You know, as I explained in the title track, ‘Does he have his cabin? How many acres did he get?’ If you did really well, took care of yourself, helped others, do you get more acreage with his cabin? So it’s like, your mansion or your home in the sky in heaven.”

Cabin In The Sky leads with vibrant first single, “The Package.” This one was produced by Pete Rock, and samples The Impressions’ 1969 song “Seven Years.” The track can be heard below:

Posdnuos revealed that the title, Cabin in the Sky, is a nod to the 1943 all-Black musical film starring Ethel Waters, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

“Cabin in the Sky lives in that space between loss and light. It’s about the pain we carry and the joy that somehow still finds us. This album is therapy and celebration at the same time. There’s a vulnerability in these songs, because everything we’ve been through has brought us to this moment, to this album, honoring what we’ve lost and lifting up what still remains. That duality. That’s life, and that’s De La,” says Pos.

“The music on this record is not old, just seasoned. It’s what we call adult hip-hop: something rooted in the culture but speaking to where we are now. The beauty is that it still connects with the younger heads too. They can feel the honesty, the craft, and that De La Soul DNA running through it. We’re bridging generations with this one,” adds DJ Mase.

Guests on Cabin in the Sky include Killer Mike, Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano, Nas, and Black Thought, with production from DJ Premier, Super Dave, Pete Rock and others.