De La Soul swung by Fallon on Thursday night and used the Cabin in the Sky track “Different World” to pay homage to longtime vocalist Trugoy the Dove, who died in 2023.
The song opened with track collaborator Gina Loring taking over parts of the song that Jermaine Jackson had contributed to the album. Maseo held down the turntable, and Posdnuos stood at the microphone in profile, while the words he rapped appeared on the screen and slowly assembled a portrait of Trugoy. The group staged the late-night performance like a music video, with the camera moving around the stage rather than positioned in a stationary spot. Not only did the lyrics appear on the video screen behind the musicians, but they also were animated onto the clip itself. Cabin in the Sky is the group’s 10th LP and followed 2016’s And the Anonymous Nobody, which earned a Grammy nod for Best Rap Album. It includes production by DJ Premier, Super Dave, Pete Rock and features Killer Mike, Yukimi from Little Dragon, Common, Nas and Black Thought.
In a review of the album, Rolling Stone wrote, “Nearly four decades after banding together as Long Island teenagers, De La Soul still know how to create event albums that command our attention. It’s one of their less-acknowledged gifts — there’s only a handful of rap acts who warrant critical fervor with every release — and a primary reason why Cabin in the Sky feels riveting despite a surplus of sentimental pop tones. The trio, now reduced to a duo, excel at sequencing tracks and stacking ideas so their thoughts on overcoming grief and embracing the possibilities of growing older feel more life-affirming than cloying.”