De La Soul by David Corio

Photographer: David Corio

Location: The Apollo Theatre, Harlem 125th St, NYC

Edition: 50

Date: 1993

"NME had voted De La Soul’s ‘3 Feet & Rising’ as the best album of 1989 and they asked me to meet up with the trio as they were promoting their third release ‘Buhloone Mindstate’. I got picked up in a minivan in mid-town and whisked uptown. Throughout the whole journey I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. They were well known for their witty lyrics, quirky skits and eclectic sampling but it was as if they were talking in a totally different language interspersed with hysterical laughter. We piled out next to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem and I had to marshal them together to fit them all in the frame with part of the famous venue in the background. They seemed barely aware that I was photographing them but it made for an easy, laid-back photo-shoot."