BACKSPIN PRESENTS
He Did It For Us: In Memory of De La Soul’s Dave Jolicoeur (1968–2023)
The heart in De La’s Soul
It’s one of those bitter ironies with which life is too often littered that De La Soul’s Dave Jolicoeur would pass away of congestive heart failure. The one thing that never failed De La Soul throughout their myriad industry ups and downs was Dave’s heart.
His partner in rhyme, the more heralded Posdnuos, was unerringly cerebral, at times even professorial in his writing and delivery. Dave imbued the group’s often abstract records with feeling. The juxtaposition is an under appreciated part of what makes De La Soul’s game-changing debut, 3 Feet High and Rising such a joy to partake in.
Pos brings an academic’s precision to his innovations in form, keeping our synapses firing. But its Dave, then performing under his D.A.I.S.Y. Aged moniker Trugoy the Dove, who connects viscerally. His youthful jubilation and sense of wonder at the expanse of possibilities in the world opening up before him mirrors the feelings of the listener getting lost in De La’s pastel-colored wonderland of sample collages, surrealist turns of phrase, and the occasional soothsaying alligator.
As the group grew increasingly disenchanted with the myriad machines through which their art…
