- published: 28 Oct 2015
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De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres. The members are Kelvin Mercer, David Jude Jolicoeur and Vincent Mason, known under a variety of nicknames. The three formed the group in high school and caught the attention of producer Prince Paul with a demo tape of the song "Plug Tunin'".
With its playful wordplay, innovative sampling, and witty skits, the band's debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, is considered a hip hop masterpiece. It is the band's biggest commercial success to date, with their subsequent albums selling progressively less, despite receiving high praise from critics. A measure of 3 Feet High and Rising's cross-over appeal was the fact that it was voted Album of the Year by NME, a title better known for its taste in guitar-based music. De La Soul have influenced numerous other hip hop artists such as Camp Lo, The Black Eyed Peas, and Digable Planets.[citation needed] They were influential in the early stages of rapper/actor Mos Def's career, and are a core part of the Spitkicker collective. They are the second longest standing Native Tongues Posse group, after the Jungle Brothers.
Rafael Castillo (born September 17, 1982), better known by his stage name De La Ghetto, is an American reggaeton singer/rapper originally of the duo Arcángel & De La Ghetto.
Rafael was born in New York and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was born to a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother, and he later found out that he is of Chinese descent from his maternal grandfather. In 2004, he collaborated with reggaeton artist Arcángel (born Austin Santos) to form the duo Arcángel & De la Ghetto; the group debuted with the single "Pégate", which was featured on Naldo's mixtape Sangre Nueva in 2005. He along with Arcángel signed to Zion's label Baby Records, and have appeared on numerous reggaeton albums including the compilation Mas Flow: Los Benjamins. In 2006, De la Ghetto began his solo career and appeared the next year on two hit singles, the remix of "Siente el Boom" by Tito el Bambino and a collaboration with Randy, "Sensación del Bloque". De la Ghetto's solo debut album which has been watched on Youtube over 26 million times. Masacre Musical was released in 2008.Masacre Musical peaked at #46 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in the U.S.; its single "Tu te Imaginas" peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart.