De La Soul Get Damon Albarn, David Byrne for Crowdfunded Album

BY Alex HudsonPublished Mar 30, 2015

Hip-hop vets De La Soul have been around for almost 30 years, but they seem to be keeping with the times, since they're funding their new album in the most modern way possible: with a Kickstarter campaign.

While De La Soul have remained active in recent years — they released a single back in the fall — they haven't released a proper album since 2004's The Grind Date. Their forthcoming album will feature some notable stars, as they've confirmed that Damon Albarn, David Byrne, 2 Chainz and Little Dragon are all on board as contributors, with more guests to be announced.

In the past, De La Soul have faced legal problems due their unlicensed samples, so this time around, they hired session musicians to improvise at Vox Recording Studios in Los Angeles. This gave them over 200 hours of jamming to sample from, and De La Soul promise that the resulting album "will incorporate elements of jazz, funk, rock, country western and anything else we're feeling in the moment."

The project doesn't have a title or a release date just yet, but the Kickstarter campaign projects the album will be delivered in September. They're aiming to raise $110,000 US, and donation incentives range from copies of the album to slightly more esoteric items like sneakers, a signed sampler, a dinner date with the band and more. There's even a chance for someone to appear in a skit on the album.

De La Soul don't currently have a record label, hence the need for crowdfunding. Check out the campaign here. As of press time, it will run for 32 more days.

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