Maseo

Bio

Vincent Mason is Maseo. He is the DJ. He is also Plug Three. He is, if you go to a De La Soul show in 2026, the one in the booth at the back of the stage who looks like he is having a much better time than every other DJ you have ever seen in your life.

Born in Brooklyn in 1970 and raised in Amityville, Long Island. He, Posdnuos, and Dave formed De La Soul in high school. He is the rhythm chair. He has been the rhythm chair since 1989. The way the De La live show works (and you should see one, in 2026, if you can) is that Pos and Dave (when he was alive) and now just Pos handle the verses, and Maseo handles the energy. He cuts. He scratches. He yells. He calls and responds with the crowd. He goes the whole show.

The way Maseo got into De La specifically is a little different from how Pos and Dave got into De La. He was the more established DJ of the three. He had been DJing parties in Amityville and Brooklyn and was already credible by the time the trio formalized. He brought the technical chops. Pos and Dave brought the verses. Prince Paul wrapped it all in the production. It worked.

On the records, Maseo is less prominent in the rap mix because he is not rapping. He DJs. He provides the cuts. He gets two-bar verses sometimes (his verse on "Plug Tunin'" is a real verse). What he is, more than the credit suggests, is the social engine of the group. By every account, Maseo is the De La member most responsible for the trio staying a trio for thirty-plus years and not splintering into solo careers like every other Native Tongues group eventually did.

After Dave's death in 2023, Maseo became the keeper of the live show. He has been touring. He has been DJing. He has been telling Dave stories on stage. He has, by all reports, been doing the slow, grief-shaped work of keeping the De La banner up by himself and Pos.

He is, in 2026, fifty-six years old. He is still DJing. He is still cutting. If you go see De La live, you will see him having more fun than anyone in the room, and that is not despite the absence of Dave, but somehow because of it. Dave would have wanted it that way. Maseo is making sure of it.