De La Soul took the Tiny Desk on March 3, De La Soul Day, and delivered something that felt like a celebration and a reckoning at once. Pos and Maseo performed highlights from their latest album, Cabin in the Sky, alongside classics including “Stakes is High” and “Breakadawn,” backed by a full live band anchored by drummer and music director Daru Jones. The set was warm, sharp, and alive with the group’s signature humor, but the absence of David Jolicoeur, Trugoy the Dove, who passed away in 2023, gave the whole performance a layer of weight that no setlist could paper over.
Both remaining members were candid throughout the planning process about what Dave would and would not approve of creatively, and the result honors him without leaning on sentimentality. This is De La Soul doing what they have always done, just carrying more with them now. The concert also marks year three of the group’s catalog being back under their own control, a hard-won milestone after a decades-long legal battle that kept their music off streaming platforms until just weeks after Dave’s passing.