That’s courageous, because De La Soul, one of the most innovative and pioneering of rap groups, has been out of sight for the last four years. And four years translates to eternity in the rapidly changing world of hip-hop, where here today can sometimes be gone this afternoon.

Better known as Trugoy the Dove for most of the Long Island rap trio’s 12-year existence, Dave concedes that the four years between De La Soul’s “Stakes Is High” album and next month’s “Art Official Intelligence (Mosaic Thump)” has “definitely been a long time.” He also points out that a good portion of it was given over to non-musical matters. Deejay Maseo (Vincent Mason) got married and now has four children, while fellow MC Posdnuos (Kelvin Mercer) has three kids; Dave himself has two. “It gave us the opportunity to stay home and really focus on family.”

The break wasn’t exactly spent on family alone: The trio finished three full albums, which they’d originally hoped to release as a single package. Tommy Boy helped De La Soul come to its senses and “Art Official Intelligence (Mosaic Thump),” to be released Aug. 8, will be the first of three separate but thematically linked albums, with its successors arriving at six-month intervals.

” ‘Mosaic Thump’ is definitely a chorus-driven record with a party vibe,” Dave says. “Not like Jay-Z or DMX, but an enjoyable, sing-along record that you can really get into, poppin’ while you’re throwing a cool little shindig at the house and everybody’s just listening to the good vibes.”

According to Dave, people who’ve heard the new album are saying it’s reminiscent of “3 Feet High and Rising,” De La Soul’s mind-bending 1989 debut, which swam against the tide of hard beats, braggadocio and social critique and opened the door for “alternative rap.”

“I don’t think it’s quite as quirky and humorous,” Dave says. “We definitely have fun on our records still, and on this record you can hear us having a good time, but it’s more concentrated on choruses and songs that you’d play in a club.”

The second album, he adds, “is going to be more rhyme- and topic-driven, more of a style record” in the manner of 1991’s “De La Soul Is Dead” and 1993’s “Buhloone Mindstate.” The final album will be DJ-focused with special guests Pete Rock, Tony Touch and Kid Capri. “Maseo is an important part of the group, not just a show deejay, and it’s cool to dedicate one of the three albums to his trade,” Dave says. Meanwhile, Maseo steps up to the mic for the first time on “Mosaic Thump’s” anti-gun track, “U Don’t Wanna B.D.S.,” which also features Freddie Foxxx.

The number of cameos on the three albums is also unprecedented for De La Soul. On the first volume alone they include Busta Rhymes on “I C Y’all,” Redman on “Oooh,” the Beastie Boys’ Ad Rock and Mike D on “Squat!,” Xhibit and tha Alkaholics on “My Writes,” Chaka Khan on “All Good?” and D.V. Alias Khrist on “Thru Ya City” (built on the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City”).

Even with three albums in the can, Dave finds time to talk about a fourth project on the horizon, one that will reunite De La Soul with original producer Prince Paul and members of the Native Tongues, a loose alliance of progressive New York rappers from the late ’80s that included a Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, Monie Love and Queen Latifah. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to round up everybody and take it to the next level, do something that people really want to hear and experience again.”

Within the larger family of rap artists, Dave senses some disquieting times. On the one hand, “hip-hop has plateaued as far as its place on the economic ladder and it’s economically healthy. Hip-hop has given a lot of young individuals the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and strong businessmen and women. The flip side is the creative side, where, unfortunately, a lot of people think money now before they think creativity.”

It’s a topic that’s addressed on one of “Mosaic Thump’s” strongest tracks, “Foolin’ ,” which Dave describes as both an industry critique and a message to the hip-hop community.

“In this industry today, people aren’t paying attention to the art. If you’re taking this art form as a joke, or if you’re just trying to get paid, it won’t last too long. It’s art and you have to respect that first. A lot of MCs are going into the studio and saying anything, it’s just pouring out of their mouths without thinking that anyone will ever know. But how much longer are people going to accept the BS and the foolin’ around? A lot of groups are going to feel the brunt of it.

“Maybe that’s why we take three or four years to come out with an album,” he says. “We want to make it right and official before we put it out. We would love to sell double or triple platinum every time we come out, but at the same time, I think I’m more satisfied with knowing that I got a solid album song after song, and selling 300,000.”

There’s also a bit of old-school mentality to the Spitkicker Tour, which features headliners De La Soul and compatible rappers like Common, Pharaoh Monch, Talib Kweli and Hi Tek, and the venerable Biz Markie. The idea was planted on previous De La Soul tours, both here and abroad, when fans would approach the group, complaining that few rappers ever came to their towns. “They’d ask, ‘Why don’t you ever tour with this person or that person? When you go back to New York, tell Pharoah to come to Seattle, we need hip-hop.’ ”

“Hearing that so much, we thought: Let’s put together a tour, give the people what they want, something they might not normally get,” Dave says. “I hate to use the term ‘real hip-hop,’ but we want to give people the hip-hop that they want for real.”

Spitkicker is not a label-focused tour, like the recent Ruff Ryders/Cash Money blockbuster or the Dr. Dre-headlined tour that comes to MCI Center next Thursday with proteges Snoop Dogg and Eminem. Spitkicker is more about like-minded lyricists than label-mates. “Like minds obviously make successful things happen,” Dave says. “And it’s family.”

Within this family, De La Soul are considered pioneers, old-timers, old-schoolers or, Dave, laughs, ” ‘legends.’ It’s all cool. We appreciate that people can acknowledge the fact that De La Soul have been here and we continue to stay true to the ideals that we had since day one. We take pride in being in the game and finding inspiration off of new and upcoming groups like Slum Village, Common or Pharoah Monch. Aside from being legends, we are fans of hip-hop and students of the game.”

DE LA SOUL — Appearing as part of the Spitkicker Tour at the 9:30 club on Friday and Saturday.