Gorillaz released their eighth studio album, Cracker Island, on Friday, 24th February. Three days later, the Damon Albarn-led virtual group shared the album’s deluxe edition featuring five additional tracks.
One of these tracks, ‘Crocadillaz’, is the latest Gorillaz song to feature Long Island hip hop luminaries De La Soul. The track begins with a verse from De La Soul founding member Trugoy the Dove, who passed away on Sunday, 12th February.
Gorillaz – ‘Crocadillaz’ ft. De La Soul & Dawn Penn
Gorillaz and De La Soul first worked together on ‘Feel Good Inc.’ from 2005’s Demon Days, which remains the group’s most popular song. On that occasion, Trugoy handled the second verse, the one that begins, “Laughing gas, these hazmats, fast cats / Lining them up like ass cracks.”
De La Soul subsequently appeared on ‘Superfast Jellyfish’ from 2010’s Plastic Beach and the Humanz track, ‘Momentz’, in 2017.
Cracker Island (Deluxe) also includes Gorillaz’s long-awaited reunion with Del the Funky Homosapien. Del, who provided the rapped verses on the group’s 2001 breakthrough hit ‘Clint Eastwood’ and the follow-up single ‘Rock the House’, takes the reins on ‘Captain Chicken’. It’s Del’s first appearance on a Gorillaz track since the group’s 2001 debut album.
Gorillaz – ‘Captain Chicken’ ft. Del the Funky Homosapien
Cracker Island‘s ten-track standard edition includes guest appearances from Thundercat (on ‘Cracker Island’), Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks (on ‘Oil’), Tame Impala and The Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown (on ‘New Gold’) and Bad Bunny (on the bilingual ‘Tormenta’).
Beck, who previously appeared on ‘The Valley of the Pagans’ from 2020’s Song Machine, also makes an appearance (on ‘Possession Island’), while Adeleye Omotayo, a member of the Gorillaz Humanz choir, provides the chorus vocals on the recent single ‘Silent Running’.
Further Reading
All The Trivia, Facts, And Broken Records Of Triple J’s Hottest 100 of 2022
De La Soul’s Trugoy the Dove Has Died Aged 54
Watch Gorillaz Play ‘Rock the House’ Live with Del the Funky Homosapien for the First Time
