- Despite declaring themselves dead on their sophomore record all the way back in '91, De La Soul continued to prove that the stakes were indeed high as the pioneers of positive, feel good rap helped pave the way for the golden era of '90's hip hop with a handful of records that will forever be looked back upon with a great deal of love and respect from the older, wiser hip-hop heads. Not unlike the majority of their golden era peers, the New York trio found themselves floundering to remain relevant as the millennium ticked over and commercial viability became king; the world at large seemingly quick to forget past triumphs. The 2000s saw De La Soul start off with gusto, releasing two thirds of a planned trilogy of records before being dropped by the label that had released every De La Soul LP in their career. The trio eventually found a new home for seventh studio LP, The Grind Date, which despite its lack of traction, wasn't a bad record, but did basically mark the point at which De La Soul fell off the face of the Earth, a massive twelve year gap appearing that extended until this very point in time, the group deciding that if they were going to release the record they wanted, they'd most likely have to do it themselves.

The fact eighth studio record, And The Anonymous Nobody, exists at all is already a small victory; De La Soul opting to take the increasingly popular crowd funding route and give the power back to the people. A valiant idea on paper, but one that has seen many Kickstarted projects fail to see the light of day. Even if they do come to fruition, they often fail to meet the lofty ideals of their creators. Regardless, I tried to approach latest LP with an open mind and two gaping wide hearing holes primed and raring for anything. One thing I wasn't quite ready for was the batshit, all-over-the-shop guest vocalists on the record. David Byrne, Damon Albarn and the dude no one but me seems to remember The Darkness all appear from left field, while throwbacks Snoop Dogg, Pete Rock and Jill Scott are joined by relatively newcomers 2Chainz, Roc Marciano and Little Dragon. Each major collaboration sees De La Soul working heavily to the varying strengths of each unique performer. They find ways to combine very different musical approaches with a deft touch whilst still staying true to their funk-filled roots and jazzy flourishes.

On paper, the pairing of De La Soul and Justin Hawkins -the catsuit clad front man from once kinda popular schlock rock band the Darkness- might just be the most questionable pairing in perhaps the whole of hip-hop history, but in actual fact somehow it isn't the worst combo; Hawkins doing his very best Freddie Mercury space-rock-opera vocal gymnastics to an overtly rocking guitar solo and full band beat that extends to over seven minutes of madness. The track with the legendary David Byrne sounds like it could be some wild Talking Heads offcut from a different world, with its grandiose and sweeping instrumentation juxtaposed with De La Soul's laid-back yet thought provoking rap. In fact the only real failure in collaboration stakes is funnily enough one of the least unique here:  Usher failing to bring anything more than his sensual whine that just doesn't feel right in this bizzaro setting.

After twelve long years De La Sou's And The Anonymous Nobody is the unlikely come-back album of the year. Even though there haven't been a million moments in which I've pined for a new De La Soul record, I'm actually pretty damn stoked this exists and it proves once again that the major label system sucks a big fat one and no one in their right mind should be forced into dealing the musical equivalent of the devil. I half expected a deformed, Frankenstein-esque, vomit inducing hour of music from three dudes fallen a long way from grace. Instead the whole affair is a delightfully odd, expansive and surprisingly enjoyable mess that never fails to conjure a warm smile on my stupid face, which in this wild world is about all I could hope for.

- Jay Edwards.