Last November, surviving De La Soul members Maseo and Posdnuos said they were "exploring all of [their] legal options" after acclaimed music journalist Marcus J. Moore published his "unauthorized" biography, High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul.
In a new interview with Brian Hiatt for the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Moore addressed the group taking issue with his book for the first time, explaining that he initially felt "betrayed by the culture."
However, that changed after he saw the support from the community in the wake of De La Soul's response, which showed the group acting on a fundamental misunderstanding of the publishing industry. "I wanted to say something publicly, but then I realized, oh, I don't have to say anything because my name is out here doing all the work," Moore said.
The author said that Maseo and Posdnuos's response to the book was "disappointing, because they were quite literally judging a book by its cover, without having read the book," and claimed to have receipts dating back up to four years of his attempts to contact the rappers about the project, but they "could never be bothered" to respond.
Apparently, Maseo did eventually reach out to Moore about being compensated for High and Rising — which, as Hiatt pointed out, isn't really how biographies of public figures tend to work. Moore said that, while he didn't publish the book to profit off of De La Soul's likeness (he's "just trying to put people on to dope music and dope art"), he understands the group's condemnation as a "trauma response."
"When you've been fighting against an industry for 35 years," Moore explained of their many battles, like the disputes over the clearance of samples that kept their catalogue off of streaming services until 2023, "then naturally, yes, anybody coming along that you feel is trying to take from your legacy or whatever, you're naturally gonna make them the enemy."
Listen to the full podcast episode below, and revisit Exclaim!'s ranking of De La Soul's discography here.