De La Soul is requesting an audience with rock royalty. The group has asked former Beatle Paul McCartney to sing on a song, slated to appear on their upcoming album, that borrows the melody of his tune "Wonderful Christmastime."

"It's one of those songs you can turn on the radio and take a long drive to," MC Dave Joliceur, whose middle name happens to be Jude, said of the as-yet-untitled track. "We're trying to see if he's going to be down with it."

De la Soul told Sonicnet.com that they've been in touch with McCartney's brother about the collaboration, but have yet to speak with the rock legend himself. The demo is currently on its way to him in England. "We look up to people like that - that's the folks we grew up on, from Paul McCartney to Parliament/Funkadelic, Foreigner, Journey, whomever," the group said. "The folks that we really look up to, we always try to somehow connect with them, the people we love."

De la Soul recorded the song with producer Dave West for the second LP in their Art Official Intelligence album trilogy. The record, which will have a yet-to-be-decided subtitle, already features Cypress Hill's B-Real, Goodie Mob's Cee-lo and Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah, Joliceur said. The trio also hope to recruit Jill Scott for a tune. The first album in the series, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, was released in August and featured guest spots by the Beastie Boys, Xzibit, Redman, Busta Rhymes and Chaka Khan.

De la Soul is also putting together a sequel to last year's Spitkicker Tour called the Spitkicker Soundbombing Tour, which they will again headline. Joliceur said he expects a lot of the artists from last year's trek to resurface on this one - including Common, Biz Markie, Pharoahe Monch and Reflection Eternal (featuring Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek).

Ludacris plans to join on for some dates in the South, and Snoop Dogg will appear for a handful of shows, Joliceur said. The outing should run from mid-July through September. Following the tour, De la Soul will return to the studio to record the final Art Official Intelligence album, for which the group's DJ Maseo will take control.