For everything that De La Soul endured in their decades-long career, the pioneering hip-hop group somehow persevered. Even after the untimely passing of co-founder Dave Jolicoeur in 2023, just as their long out-of-print first few albums for Tommy Boy Records were finally receiving a digital release and remastering campaign, surviving members Vincent “Maseo” Mason and Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer felt compelled to press on in his honor. “It obviously gives homage and reference to our brother Dave,” Posdnuos tells Apple Music about Cabin in the Sky, De La Soul’s first studio album in nine years, its evocative title a nod to existential questions about the nature of the afterlife. All three MCs appear here, with their departed friend’s contributions essential and invaluable to the proceedings. “He’s there, he’s with us,” says Maseo. “For me, that’s how it’s been to get through it and to run these rhymes and ideas. It’s been, like, just joyful and therapeutic.” Indeed, the ethos of persistence rings out on “YUHDONTSTOP,” the notion of ending the group being akin to the end of Dave himself and, thus, a nonstarter for the remaining duo. “My interpretation is definitely the epitome of joy and pain,” Maseo says, citing the group’s time opening for Nas and Wu-Tang Clan on the 2023 NY State of Mind tour as an influence on the album’s sound. “Knowing that we played a significant part of joy is what’s going to continue to be implemented in the music, but the pain part is knowing that we all can identify with loss.” Both extremes get their time here, soundtracked by such production luminaries and De La Soul familiars as DJ Premier, Jake One, and Supa Dave West. Some of the material was originally intended for a Pete Rock collaboration album, including the pensive “Palm of His Hands” and “The Package,” the latter its lead single. “I remember Dave, when he would hear something, he would, like, see colors,” Posdnuos says of that track’s creation, which features Dave doing his best Spike Lee impression. “I think his presence helped give everyone some closure and also allows us to even move on into some of the next things we had planned to do.” Joining De La in this celebration of this life and the next are a cavalcade of rap stars, such as Black Thought, Q-Tip, and the aforementioned Nas. Killer Mike steps into the maternal appreciation cipher “A Quick 16 for Mama,” while both Common and Slick Rick update a bona fide rap classic on the soul-affirming “Yours.” This chorus of vocalists sends Dave off in style while also helping to map out a future for a group with even more potential for great works as they carry on in his honor.