Last fall, music journalist and author Marcus J. Moore released his new De La Soul book High and Rising and some controversy arose when De La Soul themselves posted a statement in which they distanced themselves from the book, saying that they do not support it and that they’re “exploring all of [their] legal options.” Marcus J. Moore never publicly responded back, but now he addressed the issue during a new interview with Brian Hiatt on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast.

Marcus said that at first he felt “betrayed by the culture” — for at least the second time in recent memory — because he’s “just trying to put people on to dope music and dope art,” but that changed after he saw the support that he did start to get from the community in the wake of the backlash. “I wanted to say something publicly,” he added, “but then I realized, oh, I don’t have to say anything because my name is out here doing all the work.”

Marcus says that he has receipts going back four years of him trying to get in contact with De La Soul about the book and that they “could never be bothered” to respond. He also says that Maseo did eventually reach out to him to talk about De La Soul being compensated for the book, which, as podcast host Brian Hiatt points out, is not typically how biographies about public figures work. Marcus explains that he wasn’t publishing the book to profit off of the group’s likeness, but did acknowledge that De La Soul’s response to his book was likely informed by the fact that they’ve dealt with so many music industry battles over the years. “When you’ve been fighting against an industry for 35 years,” he says, “then naturally, yes, anybody coming along that you feel is trying to take from your legacy or whatever, you’re naturally gonna make them the enemy.”

Marcus also said De La Soul’s public response to the book was “disappointing, because they were quite literally judging a book by its cover, without having read the book.”

Read more at Rolling Stone and listen to the full podcast episode below.

When the controversy first arose, rapper and podcaster Open Mike Eagle weighed in as well.

De La Soul also recently announced that their storied Clear Lake Audiotorium record, which was “originally pressed in 1994 as an exclusive promotional release for select DJs,” is getting a wide release on March 7. It includes rare collaborations with A Tribe Called Quest, Tito of The Fearless Four, Grandmaster Caz, LA Sunshine of the Treacherous Three and Prince Whipper Whip. They’ve also got a “choose-what-you-pay” show happening at NYC’s Lincoln Center (1/17) this month.