Snoop's not behind the project as far as production goes.  Yeah, there won't be much of a buzz or marketing push.  Snoop doesn't push any of the artists on death row other than himself.  There'll be some videos and some online chatter on social media, but that'll be it. It's not like Kurupt is going to be pushed back into the mainstream with this one. 

So don't be expecting a groundbreaking album with radio play and mainstream attention, but it'll be a good little album for us long time fans to enjoy.  That's all that should be expected and then you won't be disappointed.

This is exactly what we should expect and hope for.

The music industry is still a business. Spending a bunch of marketing dollars on a Kurupt album in 2025 isn't a good business decision.

Snoop could maybe use some connections for a feature or two, but I mostly just want Battlecat to dictate the direction.

Do Not be SHOT BABY

OR YOUR A GONNER

I'f you put it down

Put it back UP

or face the consequence

If you don't put it back UP

Because you are listening to OPINONS ON CRAIGSLIST

Don't let the GAS YOU UP

THE MAJORITY OF POST ON CRAIGSLIST ARE ONLY OPINIONS

MOST OF WHICH ARE IGNORANT

GAS 12 BUCKS

REMEMBER CRAIGSLIST IS ONLY OPINION OPINION OPINION

@ 12

Bullshit.

While I agree with the sentiment that “most” rappers don’t make complete albums anymore, the last few years have seen some cohesive long-play albums from LL, De La, and the Clipse to name a few.   The vets in the west coast should peep game and come with some quality over quantity

I agree, IF it's true what Daz said, and i think it is, he did the right thing.  Snoop trying to get him to sign all his publishing away is a straight Jerry Heller/Suge Knight move.  The very people Snoop used to diss for doing the exact same thing.

lmao that literally never happened

Most rappers don't make full solid albums anymore.

Bullshit.

Rip

''I can pull a dime, quicker then Dillinger could pull a heist'' - Big-L Corleone 

They got Ginacarlo as a narrator, claps.

De La Soul – Cabin In The Sky | Review



Over thirty-five years after redefining what rap albums could sound like, feel like, and talk about, De La Soul return with Cabin in the Sky, a record shaped by grief, gratitude, and the stubborn creative spark that carried them from Long Island basements to global influence. It is their tenth studio album, their first since 2016’s And the Anonymous Nobody…, and the first made in the absence of David “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, who passed in 2023. That absence is the album’s weight and its pulse. Posdnuos and Maseo approach the material with a kind of reverence, but also with the humor, looseness, and adventurous spirit that defined the group in their earliest era. This is not a memorial cast in stone—it is a living record, full of movement, reflection, and the joy of creation.

Released through Mass Appeal as part of Nas’ Legend Has It series, the album’s title nods to the 1943 Black musical film and signals a record concerned with the afterlife, transitions, and the space between earthly ties and spiritual release. Giancarlo Esposito’s narration heightens the sense of entering another realm—an imaginative cabin where time folds and guests appear as if called into a gathering that spans decades. The roll call includes Nas, Q-Tip, Slick Rick, Common, Killer Mike, Black Thought, Yukimi Nagano, Bilal, and others who clearly understood that this project carries a unique emotional gravity. When Esposito reaches Dave’s name and allows silence to fill the space, the album’s entire intention clarifies: this is a De La Soul album made with Dave, even if he is not here to witness its completion.

What makes Cabin in the Sky so moving is the way it folds every era of De La Soul into one experience without leaning on nostalgia. The spirit of 3 Feet High and Rising hovers in the playfulness and surprise; the introspection of De La Soul Is Dead appears in the writing and the musicality of Buhloone Mindstate in the execution; the lyrical sharpness of Stakes Is High forms the backbone while the Hip Hop core of The Grind Date is felt throughout; and the eclecticism from and the Anonymous Nobody… colors the edges. But the album is not simply a retrospective. It is like the next chapter of a group that never stopped evolving, only paused to mourn.

The production lineup mirrors this continuity. DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Supa Dave West, Nottz, Jake One, Just Wazzx3, and Trugoy himself shape a sound that is warm, soulful, sometimes dusty, and always attentive to detail. Beats move with a relaxed confidence, leaving space for reflection while maintaining the group’s trademark bounce. The textures are layered but not cluttered. Every track sounds like it was built with care, as though the producers understood they were adding pieces to a legacy already heavy with meaning.

“Cabin Talk,” the album’s opening vignette, frames the entire record as a gathering where the past and present share the same air. From there, the album shifts into “YUHDONTSTOP,” a song anchored by a loop Trugoy created. Pos delivers one of his most open-hearted verses, acknowledging age, loss, and responsibility with a steady voice. It sets the tone: the album moves forward without ignoring the absence that shadows it.

Trugoy’s first full appearance arrives on “Good Health,” where his delivery carries the warmth and sly charisma that always distinguished his verses. The placement feels intentional, giving the listener the comfort of hearing his voice early and without distortion. When Pos joins him, the chemistry re-emerges instantly, reminding you why their interplay shaped so much of alternative hip-hop’s evolution.

Pete Rock’s “The Package” offers another moment where Pos and Dave move in parallel—one alive, one gone, both vivid. The track is lush and grounded, built on a classic Soul Brother palette that never distracts from the emotional core. The contrast between their tones is especially striking: Dave relaxed and playful, Pos measured and contemplative. DJ Premier’s “Sunny Storms” brings out the stoic clarity that Pos has refined over decades. His writing is sharp without being cold, personal without leaning into sentimentality. He raps like someone who has learned to live with contradictions and has accepted that adulthood forces you to carry pieces of your past you cannot fully set down.

Across the record, the guests act less like features and more like friends showing up to support a family in the thick of a transition. Nas delivers one of his strongest appearances in recent memory on “Run It Back!!,” sounding energized and conversational. Q-Tip brings warmth and ease, invoking the longtime bond between Native Tongues members. Slick Rick and Common provide thoughtful, skillful contributions on “Yours,” each tapping into the grown-man sensibilities that fit the album’s tone. Black Thought rips through a dope DJ Premier instrumental on “EN EFF” with the effortless command he’s known for, while Killer Mike approaches “A Quick 16 for Mama” with genuine tenderness. Yukimi Nagano’s lilting contributions on “Cruel Summers Bring FIRE LIFE!!” bring brightness without thinning the emotional layer beneath it. Bilal’s appearance on “Palm of His Hands” is one of the album’s most affecting moments, his voice wavering in a way that mirrors the themes of fragility and release.

Through all these voices, the album maintains a consistent emotional undercurrent shaped by Pos and Maseo. Posdnuos, in particular, delivers some of the most grounded and vulnerable work of his career. Without drama or spectacle, he speaks on grief, responsibility, memory, and aging with a clarity that hits harder than any heavy-handed tribute ever could. He is processing in real time, but with the sense of craft that defines a veteran writer.

The title track draws these ideas together in a way that feels quietly devastating. Pos approaches the topic of mortality head-on, questioning what it means for someone to ascend, how legacy functions, and what remains when the physical presence is gone. The writing is direct, not ornamental, which makes the emotional weight even stronger.

Then, in one of the most fitting choices in De La Soul’s catalog, the album closes with Dave’s “Don’t Push Me.” His voice is calm, humorous, fully alive, and entirely himself. Ending the album with his presence is not a dramatic gesture—it is an act of grounding. It positions Dave not as an absence, but as part of the living fabric of the group, the final note in a record guided by his memory.

Cabin in the Sky does not behave like a farewell. It behaves like a continuation—an album where loss does not erase vitality, where evolution does not erase history, and where two surviving members carry the third with affection and purpose. It is patient, warm, layered, and full of craft. It rewards full attention, not background listening. And above all, it reinforces the idea that De La Soul’s creativity never depended on novelty; it depended on the bond between three artists who built something larger than themselves and learned how to keep it alive, even when life rearranged the pieces.

9/10

---------------

De La Soul: Cabin in the Sky review – a full-colour celebration of Trugoy the Dove that never feels heavy

(Mass Appeal)
The first release since the death of their founding member dwells on the afterlife, yet doesn’t forsake their perpetually sunny sound

*****

Cabin in the Sky, the tenth album by De La Soul – and first since the 2023 death of founding member Trugoy the Dove, AKA Dave Jolicoeur – is, loosely, a concept album about death and the afterlife. A spoken-word intro by actor Giancarlo Esposito primes you for something heavy, but you are instantly reminded, of course, that this is a De La Soul album: it seems practically impossible that their brand of lackadaisical, perpetually sunny plunderphonics could ever feel like a drag. The lush strings of Yuhdontstop introduce an album that’s always projected in full-saturation Technicolor: from the effervescent Natalie Cole sample on Will Be to Maseo’s jovial, avuncular ad-libs that open Cruel Summers Bring Fire Life!!, Cabin in the Sky feels warm and rich in vitamin D, a tonic for chillier months.


For the most part, the afterlife theme seems to have been tacked on, likely after Trugoy’s death; the album still features his vocals, and most of the songs on the album fit squarely in De La Soul’s already established surrealist world. (Patty Cake, a minimalist highlight, reinterprets classic schoolyard chants, a conceit that somehow hasn’t already been done on a De La Soul record.) Even so, lasting more than 70 minutes, Cabin in the Sky can feel like a slog, with the end lacking the sprightliness of the album’s first half. An exception is the title track, on which Maseo and Pos pay tribute to Trugoy and others they’ve lost. It’s pensive and world-weary, but never loses its sense of magic.