Gorillaz wanted De La Soul on ‘Kids With Guns’ before ‘Feel Good Inc.’
It has been revealed that De La Soul – who appeared on Gorillaz’s ‘Feel Good Inc.’ – were originally meant to guest on a completely different song.
The hip-hop group have worked closely with Gorillaz for nearly two decades – dating back to their iconic appearance on the band’s hit single, ‘Feel Good Inc.’, released as part of the 2005 ‘Demon Days’ album. However, in a new interview, co-founder Maseo revealed that Damon Albarn originally suggested that they feature on a different single: ‘Kids With Guns’.
“When we went to do ‘Feel Good Inc.’, the initial song was ‘Kids with Guns,’” he said in a recent episode of Kyle Meredith With…. “When we were having a conversation about ‘Kids with Guns,’ I honestly came out and said, ‘Hey man, I think we forcing it.’ … I think we’re not really collaborating, we’re just featuring on the record. It’s like Gorillaz featuring De La. We really need to do like a collaboration, where we both artistically show our flavour.’”
From there, he explained how “after a lot of weed and tequila”, the choice was made to have the band appear on a different single instead. The initial track, ‘Kids With Guns’ went on to feature Swedish singer-songwriter, Neneh Cherry – although didn’t match the same level of success as seen with ‘Feel Good Inc.’.
Elsewhere in the interview, Maseo explained why De La Soul have such good chemistry with Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn.
“He’s truly out there for artistic value, and I got a lot of love for that,” he said. “No idea is a bad idea until we try it — all egos are checked at the door. Everybody is doing their best to make a great song. He hears people on songs like instruments. Everybody’s vocal technically is an instrument, and that’s how he hears the track.”
De La Soul collaborated with Gorillaz again as part of their latest LP, ‘Cracker Island’. Here, the hip-hop trio featured on a track called ‘Crocadillaz’, which was released as part of the deluxe edition of the album. Check out the track below.
In a four-star review of ‘Cracker Island’, NME described the album as “richly satisfying” and praised Gorillaz for their ability to showcase a wide range of genres. “While ‘Cracker Island’ doesn’t exactly ape a sound that’s proving already-popular, it does a fine job of reminding everyone where much of the limitless thinking came from,” it read.
“Gorillaz take snapshots of a diverse music scene – from psych-fused pop to reggaeton – and put a unique spin on it.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
