06th Mar 2011
Without question the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s, A Tribe Called Quest was formed in 1988, though both Q-Tip (b. Jonathan Davis) and Phife (b. Malik Taylor) had grown up together in Queens. Q-Tip met DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad while at high school and, after being named by the Jungle Brothers, the trio began performing. Tribe’s recording debut came in August 1989, when their single, “Description of a Fool,” appeared on a tiny area label, they signed to Jive later that same year. They released their first album, “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm”, one year later. Much like De La Soul, Tribe looked more to jazz as well as ’70s rock for their sample base “Can I Kick It?” plundered Lou Reed’s classic “Walk on the Wild Side” and made it viable in a hip-hop context. No matter how solid their debut was, second album The Low End Theory outdid all expectations and has held up as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. Tribe cemented their support of the rap community with 1993’s “Midnight Marauders”. Though impossible to trump Low End’s brilliance, the LP offered several classics including “Award Tour” and “Electric Relaxation”. Returning in 1996 with their fourth LP, Beats, Rhymes and Life, Tribe showed signs of wear; it was a good album, but proved less striking than “The Low End Theory” or “Marauders”. While touring in support of 1998’s “The Love Movement”, the group announced their impending breakup.
Website www.atcq.com
