The hip hop trio De La Soul will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Holmes Student Center’s Duke Ellington Ballroom. This will be the first time a rap group has performed at NIU.

The group is made up of Posdnous (Kevin Mercer), 19, Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur), 20 and P.A. Pasemaster Mace (Vincent Mason Jr.), 18. These three musicians hail from the town of Amityville in Long Island, N.Y.

Their debut album, “Three Feet High and Rising,” had a few hit singles and received great reviews.

De La Soul stands out from other hip hop artists on the scene because they overflow with originality. The clothes they wear look like 60s relics and they wear no gold or designer sweats like most rappers.

The group also has a musical style that doesn’t just rely on a beat track and a James Brown sample. The group takes its music a step further by sampling songs from artists like Steely Dan and Parliament Funkadelic. A math record from Posdnous’s childhood provides the chorus for “The Magic Number” and a Hall-and-Oates sample in “Say No Go.”

The group has its own way of communicating ideas. Members don’t use the word “def” or “yo” in their raps but words like “buddy” which means “body,” De La Heaven and “Dan Stuckie” which means “unexpectedly excellent.”

Its’ concerts usually are very different. Two young ladies hold up signs that go along with the songs and sometimes sprinkle daisies on the audience.

In an interview in the April 1 issue of The Musical Press, members say they are bored with their debut album and are ready to move on to another.

Posdnous said, “We don’t want to become like a lot of rappers who keep trying to come back, but it’s over for them. If they want to come back, they have to accept and use new people to help them get that raw sound. You leave when you’re graceful. You don’t leave when you’re not selling records and you’re practically forced out of the record company. When we see that we’re finished, we’re out. But we’re going to let you know now that we’re already on another level.”

Tickets are available at the Holmes Student Center at $10 for NIU students and $15 for non-students. NIU’s own rapper “Spike Rebel” will open for De La Soul.