De La Soul have let slip that they’ve been in the studio with Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn, working on the virtual band’s forthcoming new album.
The US hip hop trio have featured on the last two Gorillaz albums — on the tracks Feel Good Inc. (from Demon Days) and Superfast Jellyfish (from Plastic Beach) — and it looks like they’re about to feature on their third.
Speaking to The Guardian, De La Soul’s Kelvin ‘Posdnuos ‘ Mercer revealed, “We’re about to be on the new Gorillaz album.
“We actually sat down with Damon two weeks ago and he played us some of the new Gorillaz album, and it sounds amazing. He played us a track that he wants us to get off on his album so we got to get in the studio and put that down.”
Snoop Dogg was also supposedly in the studio trying out things for the record at the same time, which may have sparked a collaboration between Snoop and De La Soul.
“Snoop was also performing on the record when we were over there,” Posdnuos says. “He pulled us to the side and said: ‘Hey man, we’ve never worked together, can we get this going?’ Usually the lawyers will say: ‘You can pay this artist or maybe we can swap?’ and then it goes from there.”
Both Snoop and Damon Albarn feature on the new De La Soul record and the Anonymous Nobody…, while Snoop also featured on the song Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach, from Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach album.
Last month, Albarn told the BBC that Gorillaz’s new album “should be ready fairly soon,” but we really haven’t been given many clues as to what it’s going to sound like.
The album is not expected to be out until next year, but longtime Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett has previously said the record is “really fuckin’ special”, which should be enough to keep fans excited until it’s finally with us.
Watch: Gorillaz – ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ (Live on Letterman) feat. De La Soul
