Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age

What a gift. Austin McCoy has written a deep and beautiful account of De La Soul’s music and the world it transformed. Crafted with a fan’s heart, critic’s ear, and historian’s eye, this book is insightful, surprising, and compelling. Just like De La Soul – Charles L. Hughes, author of COUNTRY SOUL and WHY BUSHWICK BILL MATTERS
Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age feels like a ghost story. De La Soul vanished – their back catalog gone and legacy dead to our digital culture, it seemed. But Austin McCoy brings them back. His deeply researched and tenderly written book reminds us how De La Soul changed the game, and why they still matter. Maybe a ghost story for fans like me, but for a newer generation raised on Doechii, Kendrick Lamar, and Tyler, The Creator – artists inspired by De La Soul’s genre-bending, introspective blueprint – this is an essential origin story – Felicia Angeja Viator, author of TO LIVE AND DEFY IN LA and curator for the GRAMMY Museum’s Hip Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit
Austin McCoy deftly weaves together the perspectives of a fan with the contextualization of a historian in this rich and personal reconstruction of De La Soul’s musical career. McCoy digs underneath the sampling and lyricism to unearth how revolutions in hip-hop, the music business, and the nation’s politics and culture shape music consumption and community. Vividly narrated and blending the sensibilities of both hip-hop head and historian, McCoy has crafted a new way to think about music and history in conversation – Katherine Rye Jewell, author of LIVE FROM THE UNDERGOUND
With his own mix of professional and personal insights, Austin McCoy has provided a gripping account of the impact of one of the most transformative musical groups of all time – Kevin Kruse, author of FAULT LINES
Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age is a brilliant and in-depth look at not just a pivotal and massively important rap group. But also a generous and incisive dive into the culture that they shaped, the culture that shaped them, and the universe they operated in that many of us still benefit richly from – Hanif Abdurraqib, New York Times bestselling author A LITTLE DEVIL IN AMERICA
Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age persuasively lays out De La Soul’s story, in a way that stresses their importance and continuing influence. Austin McCoy’s book is brimming with detail, but he makes the smart decision to wear his research lightly, meaning this is a page-turner as well as being highly informative * Hot Press *
A fascinating book about the New York hip-hop trio De La Soul * Observer *
Crack open this heartfelt, joyous, always astute De La Soul book … a dream read for new, one-time or long-time fans * Shortlist *

Austin McCoy is an assistant professor of history at West Virginia University, specializing in African American History, labor history, social movements, and hip-hop culture. His work has appeared in numerous outlets including CNN, The Washington Post, and Black Perspectives. He lives in West Virginia.

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