De La Soul are contribute to the new Gorillaz album, the group have revealed, and hope to reel in the big silverback himself, Damon Albarn, for a cameo on their 2010 opus. The hip-hop crew have already recorded vocals for two tracks on the new Gorillaz album, which they say will be called Plastic Beach.
"From what we've heard, [the album] sounds amazing," Posdnuos told Entertainment Weekly. "To me, quite honestly, it sounds better than the last album."
Neither De La Soul nor Gorillaz have released a proper album in years – though both have come close. Albarn and fellow cartoon simian Jamie Hewlett followed up 2005's Demon Days with the musicals Monkey: Journey to the West and the forthcoming Carousel. And though De La Soul haven't issued an LP since 2004's The Grind Date, they did record 45 minutes of new material – to help sell Nike running shoes.
De La Soul have already enlisted both Public Enemy's Chuck D and Flavor Flav for their next album, tentatively titled You're Welcome – but their fingers are crossed for an Albarn cameo. Certainly the Blur frontman may owe them a favour. De La Soul's work for Gorillaz, on songs Electric Shock and Sloped Tropics, marks their second collaboration with the animated supergroup. They also appeared on Feel Good Inc, Demon Days' lead single, which peaked at no 2 on the UK singles charts.
De La Soul's announcement aside, Albarn and Hewlett have remained mysterious about the other artists who may contribute to Gorillaz mk III. "I want to work with an incredibly eclectic, surprising cast of people," Albarn told the Toronto Star earlier this year. "But the nice thing after having done Demon Days is that there aren't a lot of people who say, 'No, I don't want to do that.'"
"I'd like to get Bruce Willis involved in this one," Hewlett admitted.
"Involved in whatever way we can have him involved," Albarn agreed. "Something action-based."
