De La Soul Releases Surprise EP ‘For Your Pain & Suffering’

In what is turning out to be a surprisingly hot day for music releases (Drake releasing Views album and the new Rihanna-Calvin Harris track), De La Soul offers fans a new surprise EP, For Your Pain & Suffering. The veteran hip-hop group hasn't released an album since 2004's The Grind Date.

The EP is for fans who have funded De La's Kickstarter project for their upcoming studio effort, And The Anonymous Nobody. The trio - which consists of Posdnuos, Dave (aka Trugoy) and Maseo - raised $600,000 from the support of 11,000 backers. Their new four-track EP should tide fans over while the group finished up on their project.

Living up to the title, the EP's cover suggests that De La did indeed drop new music to aid in the relief of their fans' "pain and suffering." It features an animated Posdnuos caricature running away from an angry mob, as he says "It's coming August 26th!"

Judging by the EP, De La's new album will most likely feature live instrumentation and funny day-in-the-life skits ("Schoolyard Studios").

On the flute-driven, funky track "TrainWreck," Pos and Trugoy rap about the virtues of women they desire. "Her mouth game is like Rap-A-Lot / Her Facebook says she AIM at this rap a lot / Online surfin' for them beach boys / To bring the sand under her feet boys," raps Trugoy.