Only releasing a mixtape and a handful of loose tracks in the last 12 months, De La Soul received Artist Of The Year honors at the 18th annual Webby Awards. The Long Island, New York trio was presented with the award (by De La disciple, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots) not for their music as of late, but their approach to the music they’ve made throughout the last 24 years.

In February, De La gave away almost all of their albums for free download, at a time when the crew’s music is not available digitally, due to pending copyright suits surrounding sampling. Rather than make a dollar, the former Tommy Boy Records artists simply liberated the bulk of their catalog to keep Heads in reach of the classic run of albums including De La Soul Is Dead, Stakes Is High, and 1989 debut, 3 Feet High And Rising.

After some personal reflections from Questo, a small timeline video shows the risks De La took through sampling, and the Native Tongues co-founders took the Webby stage to receive the award for their legendary status, and out-of-the-box approach to spreading the D.A.I.S.Y. gospel.

Related: De La Soul Unleashes Their J Dilla-Produced Smell The D.A.I.S.Y. (Mixtape)