De La Soul Joins the Kennedy Center's New Hip Hop & Festival

The Kennedy Center has announced that Grammy®-winning American hip hop group De La Soul will join the new festival series, Hip Hop &. The artists will join five-time Grammy Award®–winning pianist, composer, producer, and founding Kennedy Center Hip Hop Culture Council member Robert Glasper; two-time Grammy Award®–winning composer, conductor, arranger, musical director, and bassist Derrick Hodge; and the renowned Black Radio Orchestra to celebrate the 125th and 50th birthdays, respectively, of music icons Duke Ellington and J Dilla in the Concert Hall on March 30 as part of Black Radio: A Duke x Dilla Celebration. The event will be followed by an afterparty in the Club at Studio K, hosted by Emmy Award–winning drummer, producer, and DJ Karriem Riggins.

This year’s Hip Hop & Jazz festival represents an annual season focus highlighting hip hop’s intersections with other genres, forms, and disciplines—each year, Hip Hop & will explore the evolutionary and multitude of ways that hip hop impacts culture.

ABOUT DE LA SOUL

De La Soul is a New York trio whose members Posdnuos, Trugoy, and Maseo created the hip hop masterpiece 3 Feet High and Rising, initially released on March 3, 1989. The group is best known for their eclectic and innovative sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of jazz, rap, and alternative hip hop subgenres. The group won the Grammy Award® for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration for their song “Feel Good Inc.” with The Gorillaz in 2005. In 2015, De La Soul raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter from fans to independently release their 2016 album And the Anonymous Nobody…, which was their first No. 1 on the Rap Albums chart and was also Grammy®-nominated for Best Rap Album. In 2023, after years of legal battles over rights and ownership, De La Soul finally regained access to their back catalog and released their entire catalog to all streaming platforms on March 3, 2023 (34 years to the day after 3 Feet High and Rising was released). With the passing of David Jude Jolicoeur, aka Trugoy the Dove, on February 12, 2023, Posdnous and Maseo continue to carry forth the group’s ongoing legacy.

ABOUT HIP HOP & JAZZ

The inaugural festival, Hip Hop & Jazz, celebrates the dynamic relationship between hip hop and jazz over the course of several exciting programs. The festival kicks off on March 27 with a special jazz and hip hop edition of the Kennedy Center’s popular Hip Hop Listening Sessions. March 29, the acclaimed Igmar Thomas’s Revive Big Band takes over the Club at Studio K for two performances. Five-time Grammy Award®–winning pianist, composer, producer, and founding Kennedy Center Hip Hop Culture Council member Robert Glasper; two-time Grammy Award®–winning composer, conductor, arranger, musical director, and bassist Derrick Hodge; and the Black Radio Orchestra celebrate the 125th and 50th birthdays, respectively, of music icons Duke Ellington and J Dilla with a special one-night-only event in the Concert Hall on March 30, Black Radio: A Duke x Dilla Celebration, followed by a not-to-be-missed afterparty in the Club at Studio K hosted by Emmy Award–winning drummer, producer, and DJ Karriem Riggins. Then, on April 19 in the Concert Hall, three legendary musicians—Rakim; two-time Grammy Award® winner DJ Jazzy Jeff; and Grammy®–nominated saxophonist, bandleader, and composer Ravi Coltrane—come together for a must-see event: The Rakim & DJ Jazzy Jeff & Ravi Coltrane Project, produced by Jill Newman Productions.

Tickets for the Hip Hop & Jazz Festival events are available via the Kennedy Center website or by calling (202) 467-4600. 

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