De La Soul have announced that a 30th anniversary edition of their groundbreaking rap classic Stakes Is High is set to be released this Friday. The new edition features remastered audio, rare and unreleased cuts, remixes, and other treats. Out today is a J Dilla remix of the title track, which now features verses from two emcees who appear elsewhere on the record: Mos Def and Truth Enola.
Regarding the LP, Posdnuous shared: “Stakes Is High was us speaking honestly about what we were seeing and experiencing in hip-hop at that moment. We weren’t trying to predict the future. We were expressing what mattered to us as artists and as people who love this culture. Thirty years later, to see people still connecting with those messages, and a new generation discovering the album, means a great deal.”
Added Maseo: “What’s special about this anniversary is that the music is still reaching people. There are fans who have lived with this album for 30 years, and there are younger listeners hearing it for the first time. That’s what you want as an artist. You want the music to have a life beyond the moment it was created. This release also gives us another opportunity to celebrate Dave and the work we built together.”
Check out the Jay Dee remix of “Stakes Is High” below, and pre-order the 30th anniversary edition of the LP here. The album will be released via four-LP, two-CD, and digital formats on October 23.
