Legendary New York hip-hop act De La Soul is back. On Friday, they came through with a new album, entitled Cabin In The Sky. It's De La Soul's first project in nearly a decade, with 2016's And the Anonymous Nobody... being their last effort.
Cabin In The Sky, unfortunately, is also De La Soul's first album since the premature death of founding member Trugoy the Dove in 2023 at the age of 54. His death left De La Soul members Posdnuos and Maseo as the remaining two, turning the once-trio into a duo.
With so much time having passed since their last album, plus the loss of a core member, Cabin In The Sky was bound to be an interesting release in De La Soul's career arc, if nothing else. As it turns out, it's also a supremely good project worth unpacking.
Here's what makes De La Soul's Cabin In the Sky so special
Cabin In The Sky achieves two things over its roughly 70-minute runtime. For one, it serves as a way to pay tribute to Trugoy. Simultaneously, it pushes the group forward artistically, all while keeping their ethos intact.
To the first point, De La Soul mentions their fallen brother repeatedly throughout the tracklist, often by his real name, Dave. They get into their feelings about losing him, and their approach to going forward without him.
Trugoy also makes several posthumous appearances, laying down verses on songs such as "The Package" and "Patty Cake," and performing solo on the powerful closer "Don't Push Me." It's great to hear him skillfully come through once again, in a context that may very well be the final time he appears on a De La Soul album.
The Trugoy element of Cabin In The Sky is carried out phenomenally across this album, and is impossible to overlook within the album's context. But even in the moments of this album that don't directly discuss that, the results are terrific.
There is variety aplenty in the tracklist as you listen through. There are endless different angles, dealing with feelings like love, growth, and pain. De La Soul explores so many different ideas on this record, and yet it all comes together in an album that feels cohesive and whole.
One moment, you're listening to Pos and Killer Mike trading verses, paying homage to their mothers on "A Quick 16 for Mama." The next moment, De La Soul is delving into the concept of a woman working to move on from an unfaithful, unworthy man on "Just How It Is (Sometimes)."
They manage to do all of this while staying true to their roots and making an album that is decidedly them. As fresh and vibrant as the production is, and as stellar as the many features are, it all fits into De La Soul's larger sound spectacularly.
It's remarkable that after so much time, De La Soul can still demonstrate to listeners what has made them so special all along. Many artists lose that over the course of a lengthy career run, but De La Soul clearly hasn't, a full 36 years since their debut. Their musical talents still shine through.
The bar is really high for a group that has put out multiple classics (at a minimum). Even with that being the case, I would argue that Cabin In The Sky can go toe-to-toe with some of De La Soul's best works and deserves a tremendous amount of credit.
De La Soul has never put out a bad album, but their output in the 21st century has always felt comparatively inferior to what came before. This new album breaks that trend and is their best work since at least Stakes Is High in 1996. If you've enjoyed their stuff in the past, listening is highly recommended.