How A Tribe Called Quest Birthed an Entire Generation of Musicians
A Tribe Called Quest dropped back to back classic albums and helped push jazz rap and neo-soul into the mainstream. Following in their footsteps, a generation of musicians picked up where they left off.
ATCQ's musical journey starts with their first album ‘People's Instinctive Travels’ released in 1990.
The project is the most Afrocentric and spiritual of their music. This is reflected in their subject matter, production and style. The album spawned some of the group’s most memorable songs in ‘Bonita Applebum’ and ‘Can I Kick It?’. ‘
The Low End Theory’ was their second offering and differed in sound and style from their first. The production took a jazzier, R&B and boom-bap inspired sound similar to Pete Rock.
Group member Jarobi left Tribe to pursue a culinary career around 1991. This meant a lot of his recorded rap verses were scrapped in favour of Phife rapping more alongside Q-Tip for their second album.
Tribe ditched their dashikis in favour of baseball caps and Nike sneakers. TLET and their third album are often regarded as some of the greatest rap albums of all time.
Tribe’s third album ‘Midnight Marauders’ was released in late 1993. Midnight Marauders has been called the main source of inspiration behind artists like Logic and Pharrell Williams.
Pharrell actually recorded a rap verse for the album but was omitted for unknown reasons. Also, Midnight Marauders was released the same day as Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers album.
In 1996, ATCQ released their fourth album ‘Beats, Rhymes and Life’. The record was notably darker in tone than ever before. The biggest flaw in BRL is it lacks the Shaq/Kobe dynamic between Q-Tip and Phife fans saw prior.
Phife’s lack of presence is taken up by unofficial member and Q-Tip's cousin Consequence. On a positive note, BRL and their fifth album ‘The Love Movement’ are notable for early production from J Dilla.
In 2011, Michael Rapaport directed an ATCQ documentary, the movie was well-received overall. The documentary chronicled their rise to fame and their eventual breakup.
In late 2015, Tribe secretly reconciled to make a proper final album. Tragedy struck in March 2016 when group member Phife died at age 45. It was revealed Phife died from complications with his Diabetes.
Album cover and packaging for We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service. Image property of Epic Records.
This inspired the remaining members of the group, including Jarobi who hadn’t been on a Tribe album since their first, to push on and finish the album. ‘We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service’ was released in late 2016 to critical and commercial success.
The record featured guest spots from; Kanye West, André 3000, Kendrick Lamar, Jack White, Elton John and Anderson Paak. ATCQ and the Native Tongues movement helped bring jazz rap and neo-soul to the forefront of popular music.
The group also helped launch the career of Busta Rhymes from his performance on the song ‘Scenario’.
Tribe's influence cannot be understated with countless artists following in their footsteps. This includes but isn't limited to; Vince Staples, Erykah Badu, Outkast and Tyler, The Creator.
Stream A Tribe Called Quest on Spotify and Apple Music here.
