90s nostalgia is all around us, and while some curmudgeons among you might think that’s not a universally great thing, it does have some benefits. For instance, remembering that De La Soul is great, even if you were too young to appreciate them on their first go-round. So whether you were a fan from the beginning or had to age into good taste, it’s exciting news that De La Soul will put their whole catalog online for free for 25 hours, starting today at 11am on their website.
Sure, you probably already found ways that aren’t legal, but are not customary, to get the group’s whole back catalog. But if you haven’t for whatever reason, now you can, and you don’t have to feel guilty about it. De La Soul member Posdnuos told Rolling Stone that since fans can’t even get the group’s music on iTunes (or Spotify) due to sample clearance issues, they’d make it easy for them to get it. It’s also De La Soul’s way to show their fans some Valentine’s Day love.
So while our view of samples and their commercial use is lame and kills art sometimes, at least this time it’s working out in our favor, with 25 years of De La Soul just being handed to us on a platter. Of course, like when Marvel did this with comics and when anyone popular gives stuff away online, the servers might strain. If that happens, just take a page from De La and be cool, it’ll work out.