It has been nearly 25 years since Leaders Of The New School released an album, care of 1993’s T.I.M.E. Mentored by The Bomb Squad, especially Chuck D, Long Island, New York’s L.O.N.S. would create a launchpad for Busta Rhymes, along with Dinco D, Charlie Brown and DJ, Cut Monitor Milo. Founded in the late 1980s, the quartet would become part of the Native Tongues collective, making key appearances alongside A Tribe Called Quest and others.

While the Elektra Records group cantankerously broke up in the mid-1990s, just as Busta’s solo career was exploding on The Coming (which featured a Leaders possé cut), the collective made several on-stage reunions in the 2010s, as recently as 2015.

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Dinco D, who released his Cameo Flows album in 2016 (posted below) was joined by Charlie Brown on The Library With Tim Einenkel radio show. At 30:30, Dinco D states, “De La [Soul] came back, [A Tribe Called Quest came back], a lot of other cats is comin’ back…I see like Edo. G’s coming back with a new album, Common still is bringin’ it, Masta Ace [is], me, you know, and we got some Leaders songs that we working [on] to take it to another level.”

At 40:20, Tim Einenkel asks for more information surrounding these songs. “It’s in the process. We performed [at a holiday event in Newark, New Jersey in 2015],” says Dinco D, referring the band’s HOT 97 appearance with Busta Rhymes. “It’s like this: we’ve got material already in the can, that’s done…some songs that are done.” Charlie Brown interjects, “It’s just gotta flow. Before, it was easier for us to work on material because we were all on the same page, and we were all around each other constantly. Now, we’re at different levels of life. Dinco’s a father. Busta’s a father. I’m not a father, but I’m an uncle. We got some stuff ready though, for the world to hear.”

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The group points to the “We Home,” from Busta’s 2015 mixtape, The Return of The Dragon (The Abstract Went On Vacation). “That was a spark of energy; Black Milk produced that. We got a rush off that. We just gotta finish it up, touch some things up. [Things] just have to fall into place for each record.”

Last month, Busta Rhymes appeared alongside A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip and Jarobi White, as well as Consequence and DJ Scratch on N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN’s Drink Champs podcast. At 36:00 in that interview, Busta made a similar statement. Speaking about his ties to A.T.C.Q., the Flipmode Squad founder says, “[A Tribe Called Quest] always made me feel like I was in Tribe any mothafuckin’ way. That’s why I ended up on so many Tribe records. Because whenever me and Leaders wasn’t gettin’ along, I’d come right to they studio and be like, ‘Aight, fuck y’all niggas. Y’all niggas wanna act funny? Y’all niggas wanna stunt on me? I’m goin’ to my brothers’ [studio], and they gonna go open the door and roll out the red carpet. They gonna let me rhyme on every record that I want to get on,’ even though they didn’t let me rhyme on every record that I wanted to get on. I wasn’t made to feel like how I was made to feel in my own crew. But the beautiful thing is, shit is back right with me and the old crew. Leaders is lovely; everything is beautiful now,” he says. “But I never felt happier in a group than I felt being a part of the brothers that’s at this [Drink Champs] table.”

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It is unclear if Milo is involved in the current iteration of Leaders Of The New School. Elsewhere in The Library interview, the artists discuss P.E.’s impact on L.O.N.S., the state of Hip-Hop, and dissect Cameo Flows.

#BonusBeat: Dinco D’s 2016 Cameo Flows album:

The album features Jarobi and Digital Underground’s Money B.