De La Soul have given some big props to Griselda for capturing the sound and essence of Hip Hop and bringing it back home to New York.
On Friday (March 24), the group’s surviving members Posdnuos and Maseo sat down with Ari Melber to discuss an array of topics including the group’s history and their recent resurgence.
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At one point, the television host asked what music De La Soul are currently listening to as far as the new generation of rappers goes, and they both responded with very unique answers.
“Who I’m paying attention to in this very moment right now is Griselda,” Maseo said. “They are a group that actually has kind of brought it back home, you know, to New York, in my opinion. New York has lost its way for some time, we talked about mainstream. People have embodied other styles of music just to “sell records” instead of just focusing on being artistic.”
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He added: “When you listen to the essence of it, even down to us, you hear the B-Boy. You hear the B-Boy element in it all. And you can tell they grew up on them old school tapes, of Grandmaster Caz.”
From there, Ari Melber recited a few Benny The Butcher bars to De La Soul: “What’s more important: the flower or the soil that grows it/ You gon’ cry in that Toyota or this Maybach.”
After the bars, which Benny raps on 2020’s “One Way Flight,” Melba asked whether or not De La would’ve included them in their own music. Posdnuos proceeded to give additional props to Griselda before saying that Lil Uzi Vert is someone that he’s listening to right now.
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“Right now, I’m playing Kweli and Madlib Liberation 2,” he said. This other Madlib joint, ‘Wild Salmon’ that’s out, that is dope. I love the Uzi Vert joint, ‘Just Wanna Rock.’ I have to play that at least three times a day in the car. I love that record.”
Uzi’s “Just Wanna Rock” single has become a cultural anthem and has been streamed millions of times since it was released last year.
The Griselda props will likely be music to Benny The Butcher’s ears, being that he took to Instagram Live earlier this week to say that rappers need to thank Griselda for changing the course of Hip Hop.
“I just want to make a public service announcement real quick,” Benny said as he prepared to roll a blunt. “These n-ggas been putting out tapes, and a lot of these n-ggas been doing their shit, but Griselda is still the standard. We inspire these n-ggas. We made these n-ggas believe they can build this shit. These n-ggas ain’t think they could do it.”
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Meanwhile, De La Soul’s catalog — which became available on DSP’s for the first time last month — registered 12.5 million official on-demand U.S. song streams in its first week, selling 28,000 equivalent albums units (both digital download and physical copies combined).
The group’s music was added to streaming platforms shortly after the death of group member Trugoy The Dove.
