De La Soul
Cabin In The Sky
Mass Appeal
Listen Below
De La Soul is a group that has become more beloved as the decades have passed. Made up of Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer, Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, and Vincent “Maseo” Mason, they've gone from proud outsiders to the standard-bearers of quality, groundbreaking hip-hop. Known for their at-times abstract stylings and boundless creativity, De La Soul has always seemed like one of those groups that would go on forever.
At least part of their legend was built on the increasing scarcity of their music. Since streaming services have become the default means of music delivery in the past decade or so, the unavailability of the vast majority of their catalogue made the group a bit of an anomaly. Their sample-heavy material, coupled with their periodically contentious relationship with Tommy Boy Records, the label that first signed the group, meant it wasn’t that easy for many to hear material from the group’s formative years. With these early albums long out of print, the trio worked hard to maintain their legacy through whatever means possible.
It is of course incredibly sad that Dave (Trugoy) passed just weeks before De La Soul would earn newfound fame and acceptance. He died on February 12, 2023, while the first six of De La’s albums finally became available on streaming services on March 3 of that year. These projects were all reissued as well, becoming available on vinyl, CD, and cassette for the first time in years. Though new generations were now able to enjoy their music, Dave wasn’t there to enjoy the accolades that came with rediscovery and newfound financial success.
One could have understood if De La’s musical journey had stopped there. The group continued to tour, Talib Kweli joining Pos and Maseo, reciting Dave’s verses on stage. But I don’t think many expected any new music from the group.
That was until earlier this year, when Mass Appeal announced its seven-album “Legend Has It” series, which included new releases from some of hip-hop’s most respected artists from the 1980s and 1990s. The list included a new project by De La Soul. The group, with the blessing of the Jolicoeur family, was to release its first album in nearly a decade, which included contributions from Dave himself. Pos and Maseo named the album Cabin In The Sky, after the former caught a showing of the 1943 film (based on the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name) by chance on cable.
Much like the film and play, it’s an album that’s built on the concepts of making the most of your life while you’re still here on this planet. It is, thus far, the best of the “Legend Has It” series and one of the best albums of 2025. It invokes many of De La’s previous releases, but in terms of subject matter, I’d liken it to a superior version of AOI: Bionix (2001). That project was De La’s relatively early attempt to create a more “mature” project. On Cabin In the Sky the members of the group speak with the wisdom that one acquires in their fifties, rather than what they’ve learned by their early thirties.
It's also a rather long album, clocking in at 71 minutes. But that runtime feels right for a De La Soul project. In this era when many releases are less than a half-hour long, I’m happy that De La released an album that would nearly fill up a CD. Besides, the group has a lot to say on their first album in almost a decade. It’s as imaginative and creative as the best albums in their discography.
Listen to the Album:
Dave’s presence is a specter throughout the entirety of Cabin In The Sky, from the album’s intro to its final track. In interviews leading up to the album’s release, Pos and Maseo have spoken extensively about feeling his presence throughout the recording process, with Maseo saying in an interview with Rolling Stone Australia that “[Dave] did the album.” His absence from a roll call of all of the album’s participants is more haunting and emotionally affecting than I would have ever anticipated it would be.
The album’s first proper song is “YUHDONTSTOP,” which uses a beat credited to Dave. Pos revealed the track was originally “a bit of music” that Dave created during the pandemic, and that he later expanded. Dave’s voice only appears on the track as a sample chanting, “And you don’t stop!”, but Pos honors him throughout the song’s sole verse. He reveals the words that Cindy, Dave’s sister, told him and Maseo at her brother’s funeral, encouraging them to keep the group going, because “’If y’all stop, then Dave stops.’” Pos addresses still wanting to appeal to the next generation with their music, rapping, “Caught ’em off guard with the seeds that we drop / When we talking that shit, they rocking, don’t stop / So we kept on going / All the while knowing it could start an evolution of people minds growing.”
Dave only delivers verses on a smattering of tracks across Cabin In the Sky, as they were apparently in the early stages of the process of recording a new album when he passed. Cabin has its origins as The Premium Soul On the Rocks EP, which was to be produced entirely by Pete Rock and DJ Premier. At least some of the material recorded for that project appears here.
“The Package,” the album’s first single, is a Pete Rock produced banger, with the venerable beat-maker hooking up a slick flip of The Impressions’ “Seven Years.” Dave is in fine form as he raps, “You know they going straight Dan Stuckie when we blast off / Living life ‘mask on, mask off,’ / The devil got a plan and a task force / A little prayer oughta piss his ass off.”
“Good Health” is an uptempo entry produced by Supa Dave West. De La has maintained excellent chemistry with Supa Dave over the year; at this point, they’ve worked with him longer and collaborated with him on more projects than any other producer. “Good Health” is an uptempo lyrical bonanza, where Pos proclaims, “No need to put the city on my back, just the world on my sound.” The Jake One produced “Patty Cake” is the album’s most socially conscious entry, as Dave and Pos chronicle the lives of those living on the edges, scrambling, who “stay searching for their piece of the pie.”
De La contributes some light-hearted material to Cabin In the Sky as well. Pos explores breaking up in the digital/social media era on “Just How It Is (Sometimes).” Maseo also makes his first appearance on the mic in about a decade-and-a-half on the brief “Will Be,” trading bars with Pos atop a sample of Secret Weapon’s “Must Be the Music.”
Pos emphasizes his skill as an emcee on “Run It Back!”, partnering with Nas to show that even at a more advanced age, “lyrically we run it all down.” Pos flips unorthodox lyrical flows and rhyme patterns, rapping, “Man, it’s the thing that we hang ’round our neck like a chain / It’s the piece of the pain at the least, it's the lane that my flow travel down / And the sound be the rock cocaine to the brain on the track.”
Enjoying this article? Click/tap on the album covers to explore more about De La Soul:
Cabin In The Sky also features some great summer-themed music. De La is joined by Q-Tip (who hasn’t rapped on an album by the group since 1991) and Yummy Bingham on the Supa Dave-produced “Day In The Sun,” where they speak on seeking and spreading love to an airy track. Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano lends her vocals to “Cruel Summers Bring FIRE LIFE!!,” which pays tribute to both the Bananarama song of the same name and Roy Ayers’ “Everybody Loves The Sunshine,” while Pos addresses coping with heartbreak. This all leads me to the one “complaint” about the project: It should have been released in the spring or early summer. I understand that Mass Appeal committed to releasing seven albums in 2025, but if Cabin wasn’t ready in the summer 2025, then they should have waited until summer 2026 to put it out.
“Sunny Storms” is another summer-themed song, and one of three entries on the album produced by DJ Premier. It’s a two-movement piece where Pos addresses how De La has used that adversity they’ve faced throughout their career to improve their music and sharpen their skills. “We cooked up an oath, putting an emphasis on growth,” he raps. “With a friendship that won't budge / Every now and then, out of place, we get nudged / But we day-one fitted, so we stay a day with it.”
Preemo keeps his production stylings simple on the other two tracks that he provides for the album. “The Silent Life Of Truth” features Pos discussing “how a truth lives” over a solid drum track and scratched-in vocals. For “EN EFF,” Preemo then hooks up more thumping drums, backing it with a horn sample. Pos and guest Black Thought ponder their dealings with duplicitous characters. Invoking “Stakes Is High,” Black Thought raps, “Look, I’m sick of following the masses / I’m sick of giving up game to n****s failing classes, ni****s lame / I’m sick of half-assed hip-hop flows, sick of passport bros / Sick of hoes with the same fat ass and short nose.”
Of course, the theme of loss is present over the entirety of Cabin. Often it becomes the super-text, as in “A Quick 16 For Mama.” Here both Pos and Killer Mike praise their deceased mothers, reflecting on the wisdom and lessons that they imparted upon them. “Different World” is one of the project’s most poignant entries, especially the second verse, where Pos directly addresses feeling the pain of the loss of Dave. It’s perhaps Pos’ strongest performance on the album, as he raps, “It's like we lost a limb to gain a win / But Mase and I would rather be whole / I know you are providing us with warmth / But I’d rather you here with us fighting through the cold.”
Cabin In The Sky definitely takes a spiritual turn during its back stretch. The gospel inspired “Believe In Him,” featuring contributions from Lady STOUT and K. Butler and the Collective, has Pos thanking the divine for inspiring him to live right. The Pete Rock-produced “Yours” directly invokes Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World,” with Pos dispensing life wisdom, while Rick provides ad-libs and delivers the hook. The ethereal entry also features a verse from Common, recapturing his chemistry with Pete Rock from their outstanding collaboration album The Auditorium Vol. 1 (2024).
Pos contemplates the lessons that more than half a century on this planet have taught him with “Palm Of His Hands.” He explains how chastened he feels while considering how he treated the mother of his children, hoping that he has taught his son to be a better man than he was. Pos continues to be haunted by loss on the Supa Dave-produced title track, pondering his own mortality as he grows older, learning how to find acceptance in the loss of life, mourning while celebrating their memory.
The project fittingly ends with Dave’s transmission from “up in the cabins,” closing things out with the solo track “Don’t Push Me.” The self-produced song was likely recorded years ago (he makes references to Obama being president), but it’s still a fun romp, as Dave flows to a solid straight loop, talking trash and seeking female attention from a woman with a walk that will “make a blind man whistle.”
Almost a decade ago, when reviewing De La’s …and the Anonymous Nobody (2016), I wrote that the album “doesn’t sound like any other De La album, but it is an unmistakably De La album in every way possible” and that it “embodies the depth and maturity in spirit that De La fans are accustomed to.” Cabin In The Sky very much fits this same description. It appears that Pos and Maseo aren’t planning for this to be the final De La album; they still hope to release the third installment of the AOI trilogy. But as they’re committed to building the legacy of Dave and the group, Cabin In The Sky suggests that the future will hold many more incredible things.
Notable Tracks: “Cabin In The Sky” | “Different World” | “Palm Of His Hands” | “Sunny Storms” | “Yours”
LISTEN: