In the wake of the sale of Tommy Boy records, long-time group De La Soul has been acquired by Warner label, Elektra Records. “We feel very happy honestly. Relieved to be a on a label that is competing and wants to win,” Posdnous, aka Plug 1 told AllHipHop. “In the latter years the heads of Tommy Boy didn’t seem to want to win. There were a lot of great people at Tommy Boy who worked really hard, but their hands were tied.” Between 1989 and 2002, De La released 6 albums on Tommy Boy, including their most recent Aoi:Bionix.
Elektra has had recent success with Missy Elliot and Fabolous and is set to blow up with Dr. Dre protégé, Knoc’Turnal, and singer Tweet. According to Pos, the details of De La’s contracts are still being negotiated, but it does not look like there will be a third installment of the Art Official Intelligence series. “We’re just going to go back in the studio and concentrate on making a dope De La album. We may have an AOI 3 on the Internet for hardcore De La fans. But a DJ centered album isn’t really going to fly with Sylvia Rhone [head of Elektra].” De La Soul had just renegotiated a three-album deal with Tommy Boy, but will now have their next four albums on Elektra Records.
De La mentor Prince Paul was also acquired by Elektra and Everlast will be going to Atlantic.