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De La Soul hasn’t released an album in 11 years but has teased several projects and one-offs during that period. It appears that for fans the wait is over as The Plugs are going the Kickstarter route to crowdfund the production of the trio’s eighth studio recording.

The Kickstarter campaign looks to be off to a robust start as it just launched today and the band is already near the halfway mark of its $110,000 goal. As with most Kickstarter campaigns, De La Soul have a ton gift levels that range from $5 to $10,000 with varying perks that will be well worth the money and the memories. The group is known for chopping up fresh samples, but that gets a little expensive.

This time, De La is sampling its own music from over 200 hours of jam sessions done by over a dozen Los Angeles musicians.

More from De La Soul’s Kickstarter page:

Here’s the interesting part. We are now in the process of going back to that 200+ hours of music, listening, enjoying and discovering those special moments where, musically, something magical happens, where interesting sounds and layers were forgotten, where new sounds can be sampled, looped, chopped, filtered and arranged, freely, without the intrusive presence of publishing politics and the infamous “sample police.” What we’ve done is created our own crates of records; album upon albums to mine and sample from. In our world, what we’ve created is freedom, freedom to make the art you believe in without having to compromise your vision. That’s what we’ve always wanted most, that’s what we’ve always believed in, that’s what we’ve fought for, and that’s why we’re doing this Kickstarter with you.

If you put up $15 bucks, that will land you a digital copy of De La Soul’s yet-untitled LP with an estimated September release along with a Kickstarter exclusive bonus track. For 10 bucks more, a CD will be sent to you along with the digital copy. For the wax heads, $45 will get you the vinyl copy of the album along with the digital copy. From there, the perks are staggering, including going toy shopping with Dave, sneaker shopping with Pos or crate digging with Mase.

Early features named are 2 Chainz, Little Dragon, David Byrne and Damon Albarn. Recording is slated to begin this April.

[h/t Hypetrak]

UPDATE: In just under a day’s time, De La Soul raised $197,000 as of this writing with more than 3, 100 people backing the project. The project is already funded after reaching its $110,000 original goal, but perks are still available for fans who want to buy in.

Photo: Kickstarter.