DJ Shadow has tapped De La Soul for a boisterous new track, “Rocket Fuel,” which marks the DJ/producer’s first new music since 2017.
“Rocket Fuel” boasts a quintessential DJ Shadow beat, with a surge of hard-hitting drums anchoring layers of vocal loops, horn samples and Shadow’s dizzying scratching. De La Soul’s Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo flow easily over this groove, alley-ooping punchlines like, “When it’s time to get it lit, we got it hot like fever/Sick with the talk in the paths of your receiver/All about running the spot/And you know we got breath control so no need to take a breather.”
“It’s been awhile since my last album The Mountain Will Fall, and the corresponding tour… and since the tour ended, I’ve been mostly silent,” DJ Shadow said in a statement. “This is because I’ve been focused and working on a ton of music. I usually try to avoid hyperbole, and I’m not super-comfortable hyping up my own stuff, but things are about to get pretty exciting. My heroes De La Soul were kind enough to join me on the debut single, ‘Rocket Fuel,’ and the collab encapsulates so much of what I love about hip-hop… energy, beats, and fun.”
“Rocket Fuel” will appear on DJ Shadow’s forthcoming album, which is expected to arrive later this year (it will also be featured on the soundtrack for the video game Madden NFL 20). Shadow’s upcoming album will follow his 2016 effort The Mountain Will Fall, as well as his 2017 follow-up EP The Mountain Has Fallen.