De La Soul’s Vincent “Maseo” Mason and Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer watched as “The Tonight Show” audience thanked David “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicoeur ― the late founding member of the Grammy-winning hip-hop group ― during a brief, heartfelt tribute on Thursday.
Jolicoeur died on Feb. 12. He was 54. No cause of death had been announced, but the rapper was open about suffering from congestive heart failure in recent years.
His death occurred weeks ahead of the Long Island hip-hop group’s entire catalog hitting streaming services, a release that followed years of legal disputes that kept their first six projects off digital platforms.
Mason, who sat alongside Mercer for an interview with Jimmy Fallon, thanked Reservoir Media for its role in the Grammy-winning group’s long-awaited catalog release before his shoutout to Jolicoeur.
“Can you please say for me ‘thank you, Dave?’” Mason said.
“Thank you, Dave,” the crowd responded.
“Tonight, he’s watching,” Fallon added.
De La Soul celebrated the “bittersweet” catalog release during its interview with Fallon. Mason reflected on how Prince Paul, who produced their debut album “3 Feet High and Rising,” “implemented” the group’s freedom.
He recalled how moving from Brooklyn to Long Island got him closer to his dream as he was able to meet the iconic producer.
The two later looked back at their first performance at hip-hop band Stetsasonic’s release party in front of the likes of Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Big Daddy Kane.
“We did [one] song and I remember DMC came backstage and was like ‘yo, do the song again,’ it was just amazing,” Mercer said.
De La Soul then linked up with The Roots to perform “Stakes Is High,” the titular Jay Dee-produced track from their 1996 album.
You can check out the group’s soulful performance on “The Tonight Show” below.
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