Credit: Matti Hillig

Gorillaz are well-known for their many hip-hop collaborations, but arguably, their most thrilling partners have been De La Soul. The virtual band, led by Damon Albarn, has worked with everyone from Mos Def and Snoop Dogg to ScHoolboy Q and Vince Staples over their two decades of making music.

As one of the most groundbreaking groups of the late ’80s and early ’90s, De La Soul have inspired generations of rappers through classic albums such as 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead. But for many kids in the 2000s, the first time hearing Posdnuos, Maseo and Trugoy the Dove’s music will have been from the Blur frontman’s offspring.

Their collaborations began in 2005 and have continued over the years, working together as recently as 2023 on the latest Gorillaz album. Still, to this day, seeing De La Soul’s name on their albums provides a similar excitement for their creative chemistry.

Albarn recently announced that he’s finishing up a new Gorillaz album, set to be released in 2025. Despite the loss of Trugoy the Dove, hip-hop fans will be hoping another De La Soul track makes the cut.

Below, check out five captivating collaborations between De La Soul and Gorillaz.

‘Feel Good Inc’

De La Soul joined forces with Gorillaz for the first time in 2005, and the song remains their most popular record together. The classic Demon Days album paved the way for ‘Feel Good Inc’, a certified hit that reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and 14 in the US. It’s easily the band’s biggest song, with almost two billion streams on Spotify.

Trugoy the Dove steals the show on the track, kicking off his verse with the iconic lyrics, “Laughin’ gas, these hazmats, fast cats/ Linin’ ’em up like arse cracks/ Play these ponies at the track/ It’s my chocolate attack/ Shit, I’m steppin’ in the heart of this here/ Care Bear repping in harder this year/ Watch me as I gravitate, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

‘Superfast Jellyfish’

Gorillaz had the weight of the world on their shoulders following the successful Demon Days album, produced by Danger Mouse, which included hits like ‘Dare’ and ‘Dirty Harry’. Hoping to keep that magic alive on 2010’s Plastic Beach, they teamed up with De La Soul again on ‘Superfast Jellyfish’, featuring Gruff Rhys, the lead singer of Super Furry Animals.

Posdnuos’ lyricism was on display in this one, rapping, “All hail King Neptune and his water-breathers/ No snail thing too quick for his water-feeders/ ‘Don’t waste time’ with your net, our net worth is set/ Ready, go, many know others but/ We be the colours of the mad and the wicked/ We be bad, we re-brick it with the twenty-four hour sign.”

‘Momentz’

Seven years after Plastic Beach, Gorillaz welcomed a new collection of rappers on their Humanz album, including Pusha T, Danny Brown, ScHoolboy Q and Vince Staples. But still, it wouldn’t have been a comeback without the trusty New York trio. De La Soul featured on ‘Momentz’, the fifth track on the album, despite Albarn initially trying to get Dave Chappelle on the record instead.

Recognising the return, Posdnuos spits in his verse, “De La is also back again/ With a crew that’s bound to pack ’em in/ Got a girl who’s up for the matin’/ I sense the need in her grammar/ Her nose has never been skatin’/ But she’s sippin’ star constellation/ For real, her squirt game was so like 2Pac out of court run towards camera.”

‘Crocadillaz’

Trugoy the Dove passed away on February 12th, 2023. Two weeks later, Gorillaz paid the ultimate tribute by releasing ‘Crocadillaz’, a song for the deluxe version of their Cracker Island album. Dave carries an infectious track that makes you wonder how it didn’t appear on the original tracklist in the first place.

Jamaican reggae singer Dawn Penn is also featured in the song, in which Trugoy raps, “Send the sentiment, taste the destruction/ Earth-level angles folded and tucked in/ Your four corners parade in seduction/ Pretty veneer boys, step to the rear/ I’ma play the chairman and step to the chair/ It’s the darling of it all, carving on the wall.”

‘Here in After’

Despite not being an official collaboration between Gorillaz and De La Soul, the latter group recruited Albarn to feature on And the Anonymous Nobody, their 2016 album that served as their first LP in 12 years. Trugoy the Dove initially didn’t like the sound of ‘Here in After’, but his trumpet player helped change his mind.

In the end, the song played an important role in processing the loss of his cousin, who was like a best friend to him. “That song brought me to that place, to thinking about my cousin,” he told Spin. “It brought me to thinking about my mum and my dad, who also passed. It was like, ‘Yeah, I’m feeling something here.’”