A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest

Essential Albums

  • Midnight Marauders
    Midnight Marauders

    A Tribe Called Quest helped give rap music a new sound and attitude on albums like 1990's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and 1991's The Low End Theory, where the quartet's casual cool, jazz-heavy sample crate, and free-wheeling experimentation contributed to the nascent movement eventually dubbed "alternative hip-hop." Their third album, 1993's Midnight Marauders, may not be as influential, but it could be their most beloved. Released the same year as Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang, KRS-One's Return of the Boom Bap, and Black Moon's Enta Da Stage, the album was perhaps the lushest and funkiest in a movement of technically proficient, rhythmically propulsive, purist-friendly rap music taking the art form back to its hard-hitting New York roots. Tribe’s melodies still chilled in that mellow nexus of ’70s jazz, funk, and soul—think Roy Ayers, George Duke, Minnie Riperton, and Weldon Irvine—but their drums cracked and knocked like they were made to blow headphone speakers. Hit singles like "Electric Relaxation" and "Award Tour" (the group's highest charting song to date) represent the album's commitment to calm demeanors, rugged beats, and pop savvy. The group continued the conscious streak that made them rap legends: "Sucka Nigga" is rapper Q-Tip's complicated thesis on the politics of using the N-word, which had been going through the process of being reclaimed by fellow rappers. But the album's most iconic lines were giddy fun that set them apart. Though there's no shortage of Phife Dawg gems here, few can top this boast from "Oh My God": "Mr. Energetic/Who me, sound pathetic?/When's the last time you heard a funky diabetic?"

  • The Low End Theory
    The Low End Theory

    In the wake of the release of A Tribe Called Quest's first album, 1990's stellar People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, critics who had previously ignored hip-hop sat up and took notice of Q-Tip's sophisticated and unorthodox productions, and Phife Dawg's party-rocking but winningly self-deprecating rhymes. But the critics often overlooked Tribe's far-reaching roots in the hip-hop underground and their larger place in the history of Black music in general. The Low End Theory was in many ways a conscious attempt to redress these critical oversights; it also happens to be one of the finest hip-hop albums ever recorded. From the sinuous Art Blakey samples and myth-making rhymes of “Excursions” to the joyous free-for-all of the epic posse cut “Scenario,” The Low End Theory is a stone masterpiece that establishes Tribe's place in hip-hop's history. They draw on everything from the crowd-hyping improvisations of their early park jams, to the complex sciences of Golden Age rhyming styles. Simply put, The Low End Theory is essential for anyone seeking to understand hip-hop.

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About A Tribe Called Quest

With their lush production, inventive rhymes, and quirky personalities, A Tribe Called Quest rewrote the rules for hip-hop with their legendary run in the 1990s—and created a template that artists have followed decades later. Queens-bred childhood friends Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White formed the group in the late '80s, and later teamed up with Afrocentric acts like Queen Latifah, Jungle Brothers, and De La Soul to create the Native Tongues collective. A Tribe Called Quest crafted diasporic music that warmly connected different generations of Blackness by merging jazz, soul, and funk samples—from artists like Grover Washington Jr., Stevie Wonder, and Sly & The Family Stone—and righteous rhymes that depicted contemporary life with playful sophistication. Songs like "Bonita Applebum," "Check the Rhime," and "Scenario" challenged the hypermasculinity of gangsta rap, produced with live instruments, and groomed electric lyrical chemistry. Albums The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders paved a new lane for alternative rap, with musicians like Kanye West, Pharrell, and The Roots citing the group's influence to draw outside of hip-hop's pre-established lines. Tribe enlisted Detroit rap luminary J Dilla for their next two projects before disbanding in 1998 to focus on solo endeavors. But nearly 20 years later, Phife Dawg died, reuniting the remaining members for another LP, We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service. The timely comeback was crafted amid the budding Black Lives Matter movement and released the week Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, addressing xenophobia and personal loss while seizing the joy they had left—a fitting eulogy for their multidimensional legacy.

ORIGIN
Queens, NY, United States
FORMED
1985
GENRE
Hip-Hop/Rap

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