Anyone who has heard the name of De La Soul knows that the group is synonymous with hip-hop. Members Plug 1 and Plug 2 are going to be releasing a new album under the moniker First Serve this April. The album is designed to be a concept album and in their words, “the soundtrack to a movie that has yet to be made and a fable for our times.”
The upcoming album will tell the story of two dreamers who are struggling, yet doing what they can, to establish a musical career. The album will chronicle their first big break, their rise, trials, and tribulations.
The idea of a concept album isn’t new in the musical world. There have been recent examples in hip-hop like American Gangster by Jay-Z, which was influenced by the movie of the same name. These albums use music to tell a story and engage the listener from beginning to end. Other examples of such albums include The Wall by Pink Floyd and Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson. The First Serve album will join a long line of musical bodies of work that aim to offer one cohesive and interwoven train of thought, rather than simply a few songs that happen to be on the same album.
Prior to the upcoming album, Plug 1 and Plug 2 released a mixtape called The Goon Time Mixtape. You can check that out via Soundcloud to get an idea of the type of sound that this group is producing.
