De La Soul › Similar Artists

A Tribe Called Quest - 100% match to De La Soul

This US male rap outfit originally comprised Q-Tip (Jonathan Davis, 10 April 1970, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA), DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad (b. 11 August 1970, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA), Jarobi and Phife Dog (b. Malik Taylor, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA). They formed at school in Manhattan, New York, where they started out as part of the Nati Read more

Jungle Brothers - 69% match to De La Soul

Rap innovators and precursors to the sound later fine-tuned by De La Soul, P.M. Dawn et al. Following on from Afrika Bambaataa, the Jungle Brothers: Mike G (Michael Small, Harlem, New York City, New York, USA), DJ Sammy B (b. Sammy Burwell, Harlem, New York City, New York, USA) and Afrika Baby Bambaataa (b. Nathaniel Hall, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA) were unafrai Read more

Common - 64% match to De La Soul

Lonnie Rashied Lynn Jnr., 13 March 1972, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Originally recording under the expanded pseudonym Common Sense, Lynn is one of the more enlightened contemporary rappers, proffering a heady mix of verbiage and syncopated hip-hop rhythms. He made his debut in 1992 with Can I Borrow A Dollar?, a series of tracts on consumer identity with the occasional lapse in Read more

The Pharcyde - 64% match to De La Soul

This spaced-out rap crew originally comprised Imani Wilcox, Bootie Brown (Romye Robinson), Slim Kid (b. Tré Hardson) and Fat Lip (b. Derrick Stewart). Based in Los Angeles, California, USA, their goofy, fast-talking style defied the early 90s rash of gangsta vinyl from that area with a dogma-deflating blend of cool, loopy rhythms and cultural lyrics. Hardson, Robinson Read more

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - 63% match to De La Soul

Peter Phillips, 21 June 1970, the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. One of rap music’s most respected producers, Mount Vernon, New York, USA-based Pete Rock was introduced to the world via Marley Marl’s WBLS show in 1989. He has since gone on to work with everyone from forerunners Heavy D (his cousin), Slick Rick, EPMD and Run-DMC (including their first single, Read more

Digable Planets - 53% match to De La Soul

US psychedelic jazz rappers who, along with Gang Starr, were hailed as the instigators of the genre. Contextually they were more accurately the legacy of De La Soul / P.M. Dawn’s Daisy-age rap, as can be detected from their colourful pseudonyms; Doodle Bug (Craig Irving, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), Butterfly (b. Ishmael Butler, Brooklyn, New York, USA) and Ladybug Read more

Gang Starr - 52% match to De La Soul

Arguably hip-hop’s most literate, challenging act on both musical and lyrical fronts, Gang Starr comprises Guru Keith E (Keith Elam, 17 July 1966, Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA; vocals/lyrics) and DJ Premier (b. Christopher Martin, 21 March 1966, Houston, Texas, USA; music). Guru (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal) was born the son of a Boston municipal and superior court Read more

Eric B. & Rakim - 51% match to De La Soul

This Queens, New York, USA-based rap duo comprised Eric Barrier (Elmhurst, New York, USA) and William ‘Rakim’ Griffin (b. William Griffin Jnr., Long Island, New York, USA), using additional musicians such as Sefton the Terminator and Chad Jackson as required. Rakim was the lyricist, Eric B the DJ, or, as Rakim himself put it in ‘I Ain’t No Joke’:
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Slum Village - 49% match to De La Soul

Originating from the Conant Gardens section of Detroit, Michigan, USA, the rap outfit Slum Village first came together during the mid-90s. The group originally comprised rhymers Muhammed Baatin and T-3, plus producer J Dilla aka Jay Dee (James Yancey, 7 February 1974, USA, d. 10 February 2006, Los Angeles, California, USA). The latter had previously worked with Pharcyde, A T Read more

Boogie Down Productions - 48% match to De La Soul

This Bronx, New York-based rap duo comprised DJ Scott LaRock (Scott Sterling, d. 27 August 1987, South Bronx, New York City, New York, USA) and rapper KRS-One (b. Lawrence Krisna Parker, 20 August 1965, New York, USA). KRS-One (aka KRS-1) is an acronym for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone, and ‘edutainment’ remained a central theme in the work of Boogi Read more

Brand Nubian - 48% match to De La Soul

From the Bronx, New York, USA and led by Grand Puba (Maxwell Dixon, New Rochelle, New York, USA; ex-Masters Of Ceremony), Brand Nubian’s 1990 debut, One For All, was as cool, classy and unaffected as hip-hop comes. Joined by Lord Jamar (b. Lorenzo Dechelaus, 17 September 1968, New Rochelle, New York, USA), Derek X (b. Derrick Murphy, 29 December 1968, New Rochelle, New Read more

Big Daddy Kane - 46% match to De La Soul

Antonio M. Hardy, 10 September 1968, Brooklyn, New York, USA. Self-styled ‘black gentleman vampire’, whose KANE moniker is an acronym for King Asiatic Nobody’s Equal. Kane followed his cousin into hip-hop by rapping in front of a beatbox for his first shows on Long Island, New York. Aided by his DJ Mr Cee, he has released several albums of laconic, fully reali Read more

The Roots - 46% match to De La Soul

Q-Tip - 45% match to De La Soul

Jonathan Davis, 10 April 1970, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Q-Tip made his name as MC with late 80s/early 90s hip-hop pioneers A Tribe Called Quest, one of the finest acts to emerge from New York’s Native Tongues Posse. Their fluid jazz influenced grooves and Afrocentric, socially conscious lyrics helped up new possibilities in rap music, and was also highly Read more

Black Sheep - 44% match to De La Soul

Rap duo comprising Andre ‘Dres’ Titus (Sanford, North Carolina, USA) and William ‘Mista Lawnge’ McLean (b. 11 December 1970, Sanford, North Carolina, USA), who are based in the Bronx, New York, though they actually met in North Carolina in 1983. Titus’ father, an army officer, was stationed there, while McLean’s mother had relocated to the state Read more