A Tribe Called Quest albums
One of the most gifted hip hop groups of all time Tribe Called Quest reinvigorated music at a time when it was in danger of becoming just about street violence or something more stale. This group had the passion and dignity to use samples in inventive ways, and to use the interplay of the main two MC’s who half very different outlooks on life: Q-tip with his sermons on how people live and how to pick up women, and Phife Dog with his more aggressive streetwise lessons. Through four great albums they made a more peaceful, laid back approach to the world while also remining engaging and incorporating jazz and psychedelic sounds into rap music. As of the mid-2010s, they even had an amazing comeback album though we lost Phife Dog to diabetes complications that same year 2016. Hip Hop today would look a lot differently if it wasn’t for the great band, their influence on how smooth flows and jazz could be incorporated has multiple influences in acts like The Roots, Jurassic 5, Madlib, El-P, The Fugees and many others.
Band Members:
Q-Tip (rap, producer), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (DJ, co-producer, rap) Jarobi (rap, 1988-91, 2006-17), Phife Dawg (rap, 1988-2016)
Biggest Influences:
Public Enemy, De La Soul, James Brown, Eric B and Rakim, Sly and the Family Stone, Run DMC, George Clinton, Miles Davis, Ron Carter
Best Album:
Midnight Marauders
Albums Chronologically:
1990 – 75% - People’s Instinctive Travels
1991 – 89% - Low End Theory
1993 – 96% - Midnight Marauders
1996 – 82% - Beats, Rhymes and Life
1998 – 67% - The Love Movement
2016 – 88% - We Got it from Here
1990
People’s Instinctive Travels – 75%
Tribe CQ started off humbly enough, knowing what works: the back n’ forth between the two main MC’s Q Tip and Phife Dog, the moderately paced jazzy background to songs, and a sense of general fun. The album starts off with a baby crying, perhaps a nod to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” or just denoting a birth in general one of the self. “Push It Long” is a seven minute plus epic song to open up the album, full of introductions to the band; its charming and a little silly but it mostly works. “Footprints” is perhaps the first truly great song boasting a killer beat and great rhymes they would soon be known for, while the following “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” was the definitive Tribe CQ number of the day. Q-Tip tells a story about how he once lost his wallet in a typical story of teenage shenanigans, and his storytelling keeps things interesting throughout.
Other easy classic tracks are “Can I Kick It”, using a Lou Reed sample to lay out a back n forth between all the now famous laid-back style, and “Bonita Applebum” showing off their obsession with relationship drama. There are a couple of other tracks that have their moments: “Lack of Lucien” and “Public Enemy” are relatable stories and have a similar stop-start vibe to them, “Ham and Eggs” uses a description of having a healthy breakfast, where “Description of a Fool” sums everything up in a verbose way. The main issue this debut album suffers from is the songs are bit too long on average, too many are repetitive with the beat dropping out at the end of the verse and then Q-tip will say something semi important and a variety in styles will be needed in the future. Even so, the style the band creates is a mash up of rock/jazz, De La Soul ideals and Native Tongues reflections. It is nice to see another Hip Hop group that is thoughtful and insightful in their music.
Best Songs: Can I Kick It , I Left My Wallet in El Segundo, Bonita Applebum, Footprints
1991
Low End Theory – 89%
The bands second album is an improvement and step forwards in every way, as opener “Excursions” easily proves. The way the samples of jazz bass blend with Q-Tip’s elegant lyrics establishes them as masters of their form. Q-Tip is no longer himself, he has an alternate identity as ‘the Abstract’ and this schizophrenic approach is also found between Q-Tip and Phife Dog himself, the latter having a more honest and street level approach to lyrics. “Butter” is a song that churns out does of humor that is a nice contrast about a girl named Flo over a unique kind of ‘flow’ himself, “Buggin Out” features a lovely back n forth between the two, more hard hitting than anything on the debut. “Check the Rhyme” has perhaps the best use of back n forth between two singers also full of saxophone samples that seem to come from outer space.
Q-tip seems to have multiple bursts of unique jazz-rock energy, “Rap Promoter” is only two minutes but gets its point across, “Vibes and Stuff” has memorable echo effects to keep it interesting and his perhaps his best song, “Verses from the Abstract” has the feeling of a psychedelic dream. “Jazz” proclaims we got the jazz with a killer chorus from Ali Muhammad, and it’s a statement that is very true- the group has found away to incorporate jazz and hip-hop seamlessly. Best of all, “Scenario” uses multiple MC’s in a memorable back n forth manner including Busta Rhymes far before he got his own solo career. Even though the first half of the album is flawless, towards the end there is a slight inconsistency that keeps it from an all-time high rating, where as “Skypager”, “What” and “Everything is Fair” lean towards filler. In all though, this is an album that seems to take on more than the neighborhood around them, but the country as a whole and it has an appeal that will make them stars. Tribe Called Quest are ready to take on the world.
Best Songs: Vibes and Stuff, Scenario, Excursions, Check the Rhyme
1993
Midnight Marauders - 96%
There is something magical on display on the band’s third album, that few Hip Hop groups have ever matched. It’s really not Psychedelic, Jazz, or R&B on display but some kind of perfect balance of all those things, combined with the artform of rapping. Nothing overwhelms, everything is turned into a gelatin and the raps are laid on top, expertly produced by Q-tip. The back and forth between Q-Tip and Phife, always the highlight of the group, is on display in about every song. There are four or five obvious stand outs: “Award Tour”, touting the groups ascend to not just statewide fame but World class fame (a lot of listing of cities and countries on this album! I love that as a geography person) and a sublimely catchy chorus. “Electric Relaxation” is perhaps the premier jazz-rap anthem, so much it hardly matters what they are saying, though what they are rapping about is very unique to them a sort of fusion as listed before. “Midnight” is the most alluring song, placing a mood of eeriness and tranquility to music that perfectly complements Q-tips flow about how he is a nocturnal animal. “Lyrics to Go” incorporates some background droning over the most pounding music here, and it’s a thrilling ride.
Those songs are the best of the best, but there is not a bad track on the entire thing. “Steve Biko (Stir It Up)” is an amazing opener, at times very chill (channeling Bob Marley by title) but also very hard pressing in delivery. “We Can Get Down” and “Clap Your Hands” follow that pattern of a great drum beat paired with awesome lyrics, while “8 Million Stories” with its mantra of “I’m having problems..” and “God Lives Through” are far more personal, home based sagas. “O My God” and “The Chase part Two” are later album strong contenders too, each one expanding on the band’s mystique and they make it look soooo easy. The overall unity of the album is found with the female-robotic voice that reoccurs and tries to be futuristic and explain things to us- on most albums this might sound priggish, but here it totally works and is the glue that holds it all together. Tribe Called Quest have reached their summit here, and Midnight Marauders is the album they should forever be remembered for. It has everything they do well absorbed into one record that you want to play again as soon as its over, and it’s the ultimate expression of Jazz meets Hip Hop.
Best Songs: Electric Relaxation, Midnight, Award Tour, Lyrics to Go, We Can Get Down
1996
Beats, Rhymes, and Life – 82%
The 4th album, and some things have changed. This album has a much denser sound to it, the hooks aren’t as obvious. This is not a bad thing at all, but it may appeal more to the die hard fans than any new comers. “Get A Hold” shows how much their sound has mutated, the drum beats are mixed more into the sound, and the delivery of Q-Tip’s rapping is more confident and relaxed then ever. Even more so in “The Jam”, the drum beat seems to be behind the music itself, giving a very warped feeling to the tune. “The Pressure” opens with self-allusions and samples of old TCQ songs like the band is looking back on their career and saying ‘look what we have done before and how far we have come’, somehow it does fit in with everything else going on. There is some anger and resentment is “Phony Rappers”, as the group talks about people are constantly testing them and challenging their positions as famous rap artists even on the street where they live (the downside to fame). As far as Phife Dog goes, “Baby Phife’s Return” might be his best song yet, his delivery and confidence had never been stronger and the beat is straightforward and hard hitting. Lyric sample, “Reserve my place in Hip-Hop’s hall of fame” and they did.
The album is overlong, something I haven’t said about the band since their debut, at 15 full tracks (no skits!) and about 51 minutes, some easy filler that does simply do nothing else then drift by- “Once Again”, “Crew”, the failed experiment “What Really Goes On”- could have easily have been trimmed off or kept as b-sides. But in all, the album has the same kind of homogenous blend that Midnight Marauders did, as there might not be as many stand outs per se but there is not much I would turn off either. “Word Play” is their own version of Neil Young’s “Words”, explaining the power of words in our modern society, by any other band this may come off as preachy. The back n forth between Q-Tip and Phife Dog has never been more fluid. Tribe Called Quest proves themselves still relevant in an age where Hip Hop is loaded down by gangster rap and mind-numbing lyrics in other more mainstream group, Tribe CQ still comforts us by knowing how stressed out we can feel, closer “Stressed Out” featuring Faith Evans.
Best Songs: Baby Phife’s Return, Get A Hold, Word Play, Jam
1998
The Love Movement - 67%
The groups 5th album is perhaps the only slightly flawed album in their discography, where it feels like more of the same old sound but its expanded out so much the power has dissipated some (the lame cover art does not help matters). There are still some killer moments: “Find a Way” is a Phife Dog led track with a catchy female voiced chorus that will stick in your head for days; “The Booty” harks back to Q-Tips sex raps of old, ever charming; “Pad and Pen” recalls the energy of Low End Theory era innocence; “Like It Like That” is very literal in its rapping but that echoey effect in the background is irresistible, another way Q-Tip has grown as a producer; “Steppin’ It Up” features Redman and Busta Rhymes (as always) and is one of their most hard rock tracks. “The Love” and “Common Ground” are also decent TCQ songs, though not as great as the ones I previously mentioned. There is a remake / update of the classic “Scenario” that while not really important to anyone’s legacy, is not all bad. Even better is “Rock Rock Y’all”, the best song on the album and a variation on the old school posse track that actually updates it for the times. The album ends strong on “One Two Shit” featuring Busta Rhymes, who lets just say is basically a member of the group at this point.
But there are too many distractions, like opener “Start It Up” just feels hilariously repetitive like a joke that has gone on too long, “Give Me” has a corny sample of Boyz Two Men that doesn’t work at all, more remakes of an old song that doesn’t work “Jazz” and “Oh My God”. At 21 songs and 72 minutes the album is far too long, falling victim to that 90’s cd habit of bands to fill up the whole 80 minutes a cd can hold just because! It makes so many albums way too long and inconsistent, this would have been a stronger 10 or 12 song record….not 21 though! The group finally writes some songs that never should have seen the light of day- “4 Moms” is two minutes of bad jazz instrumental filler, “His Name is Mutty Ranks” sounds like a Phife Dog demo and unfinished, “Against the World” and “Money Maker“ ditto. In all though, the group closes out the 1990’s with some style and for the die hard fans there is plenty to sift through here to find the best tracks.
Best Songs: Rock Rock Y’all, Find a Way, Like it Like That, One Two Shit
2016
WE GOT IT FROM HERE…THANK YOU 4 YOUR SERVICE – 88%
Most reunion albums from decade’s old acts fall flat on their face, which makes Tribe’s so much more triumphant. A sprawling 16 song album that contains about 20 years’ worth of ideas, it’s really solid for such a long record. Phife Dog passed away from complications due to diabetes the same year of this albums release, and his ghost does hover over the proceedings but his beautiful heart gives his final album plenty of verve and energy. Some of the samples used this time around are a little more pop culture oriented, from Willy Wonka at the end of “The Space Program” or Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” in “Solid Wall of Sound”, even sampling samples that have already been sampled on “Dis Generation” channeling Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet.
In all this album reminds us that Tribe were very much originals when it came to the start of sampling back in the mid 1980’s. “Whateva Will Be” has a killer echoey background that makes it stand out, Some songs really evolve and change halfway through- the super moody “Melatonin”, while other songs deepen the jazz rap of old, “Movin’ Backwards” adds some hard rock guitar riffs, but especially “Enough!!” which is my favorite song on here and a great example of a dark love song only Q-Tip can produce (featuring a great Jarobi rap!). Only “Conrad Tokyo” and “Mobius” fail to move me, and that’s only two songs out of sixteen! In all Q-Tip and the bands mastery of what it means to produce an album again moves the artform forward, as many of these sound effects and blending I have honestly never heard on a record before.
Phife Dog is much missed as he had passed away by the time the album came out, but his mastery of reggae is amazing still as exemplified by the driving “Black Spasmodic” and the before mentioned “Solid Wall of Sound” that is constantly shifting. “Lost Somebody” is Q-Tip and the groups’ homage to their fallen comrade Phife Dog, and it may cause some tears among hardcore fans. Merging new and old guest MC’s reminding us why they are called a ‘Tribe’, Kendrick Lamar, Busta Rhymes (of course), Anderson Paak, Talib Kweli and many more. Album ends with two of the best songs, the punching “Ego” where Q-Tip evaluates himself like few rappers do, and “The Donald” a commentary on the current political climate and a great posse track.
I wonder what people think of in the 2016 if this is their first Tribe Called Quest Record….I can only imagine they would wanna go check out Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders for the first time, and I’m kind of jealous of that newness.
Best Songs: Enough!!, Ego, Melatonin, Black Spasmodic