DJ Shadow has released his first new music since 2017. Today he’s unveiled “Rocket Fuel” featuring hip-hop heroes, De La Soul. The song will be featured on a new album coming later this year and appears on the Madden NFL 20 soundtrack, which was released today.
“Rocket Fuel” is a hard-charging reemergence for DJ Shadow, long celebrated as a pivotal artist in experimental, instrumental hip-hop. The song explodes with stacks of vocal samples, horns, Shadow’s dazzling DJ scratch work, and a muscular performance from the legendary rap crew.
As DJ Shadow explains of his new “Rocket Fuel” release,
It’s been awhile since my last album The Mountain Will Fall, and the corresponding tour…and since the tour ended, I’ve been mostly silent. This is because I’ve been focused and working on a ton of music. I usually try to avoid hyperbole, and I’m not super-comfortable hyping up my own stuff, but things are about to get pretty exciting. My heroes De La Soul were kind enough to join me on the debut single, “Rocket Fuel,” and the collab encapsulates so much of what I love about hip-hop…energy, beats, and fun.
You can listen to “Rocket Fuel” by DJ Shadow ft. De La Soul on all streaming platforms here, or stream it below:
DJ Shadow ft. De La Soul – “Rocket Fuel”
DJ Shadow has previously collaborated with De La Soul’s Posdnous on 2011’s The Less You Know, The Better, and he sampled De La Soul on his landmark debut Endtroducing. His last full album release was 2016’s The Mountain Will Fall, followed by 2017’s four-song EP The Mountain Has Fallen with Nas, Danny Brown, and Steven Price.
For more information, head to his website here.