De La Soul's music will finally be available to stream

For hip-hop icons De La Soul, three is the magic number — as in March 3, when the group’s back catalog will be available for the first time on all streaming platforms.

Reservoir Media, an independent music company based in New York City, announced the news Tuesday on its website.

It’s a welcome development for De La Soul, the Amityville trio whose 1989 debut album, “3 Feet High and Rising,” broke the hip-hop mold. In contrast to scowling contemporaries like fellow Long Islanders Public Enemy and Compton, California's, N.W.A., De La Soul cast themselves as flower-power rappers, adopting whimsical stage names — Posdnuos, Maseo and Trugoy — and offering up feel-good, sample-happy tracks like “Me Myself and I,” “The Magic Number” and “Plug Tunin’.” The album reached No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart, went platinum and — thanks partly to production by fellow Amityville native Prince Paul — inaugurated the hip-hop tradition of the between-song comedy skit.

So why haven’t fans been able to stream that disc — or any of the band’s back catalog? Posdnuos has blamed the complicated laws surrounding samples (there are reportedly more than 70 on the debut album alone) and an old contract that didn’t foresee the digital age. In 2021, according to Reservoir Media, the company secured De La Soul’s back catalog by acquiring the trailblazing hip-hop label Tommy Boy Music. A celebratory release of the digital single “The Magic Number” will arrive Jan. 13, followed by the March 3 streaming debut of the band’s first six albums.

Additional albums from De La Soul’s discography will be available on vinyl, CD and cassette later this year. Those items are available for pre-order on wearedelasoul.com.

“We can’t believe this day is finally here,” De La Soul said in a statement, “and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new.”

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman