2023 is the magic number

For a long time, De La Soul tracks felt like Easter eggs, littered across the landscape for only the most enterprising young rap fans to stumble across. My first conscious encounter with one of their cuts was hammering away at the "Race for the Heisman" mode on NCAA Football 06 for Playstation 2, grinding to turn my unheralded college running back into a campus legend. As I toiled away at minigames, the four-count drumbeat intro of "Me Myself & I" became seared into my brain, acting as a Pavlovian trigger to elevate my mood. Even at seven years old, the track's allure was undeniable — relentless record scratches marked the Funkadelic sample's iconic bass and keyboard loop, as Plug One and Two's nimble, nursery rhyme raps tumble inside a fun-loving groove.

This type of moment, powered by nostalgia and warm feelings, would usually represent the perfect entry point into De La Soul's discography, beginning an exploration into the absurdist, sample-laden world of members Posdnuos (Plug One), Trugoy the Dove (Plug Two) and Maseo (Plug Three) — an opportunity to become accustomed to and , , and ) was an array of unattainable artifacts, kept off digital media and streaming services for the better part of two decades. Now, after the triumphant acquisition of their music, in 2021, its full scope is available to a fresh crop of listeners, nearly two years later.