Get To Know H.E.R.

It’s about fucking time. That was the single thought running through my head when Election Day came and this album was actually dropped on the world. It’s been a while since Tip had released his last solo album, and with his last two efforts forever shelved and made available only through bootlegging, I’m surprised to say the least. Because to be honest, I figured a new Q-Tip album was destined to be simply one of those things talked about but never come to fruition. Another Detox, another Cuban Linx II. And yet, here it is. All I can say is, I hope that the quality of the music can match the excitement of hearing an entire album full of new material from one of my favorites of all time.

Hits aka Why You Should Care

1. The Abstract Rapper is back. Most of us would probably agree that Tip was much less than par on Amplified, so I had to say that I was a bit worried coming into this one. However, those fears were quickly laid to rest as dude is on point all throughout.

2. Some people have complained about the organic production of the whole album. I would say that this makes the album great. The production on this is upbeat, jazzy, soulful and a huge breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the garbage being released these days. Make sure to listen to Dance On Glass, on which the beat just kicks in out of nowhere. Overall, beautifully produced.

3. Great tracks: Johnny Is Dead, Gettin Up, Official, You, We Fight/Love (ft Raphael Saadiq), Move, Dance On Glass, Life Is Better (ft Norah Jones), I Believe (ft D’Angelo), Shaka,

Strikes aka WTF

The only track that really got to me was ManWomanBoogie (ft Amanda Diva). Just too strange and experimental for my tastes.

Balls aka Whatever Floats Your Boat

1. If you’re an avid Q-Tip fan and had downloaded his past couple of scrapped efforts, some of the songs here will already be familiar material to you. Still, it’s a great feeling to see some of those songs get a proper release, especially Johnny Is Dead.

2. There’s no guest rapper on this. Take that as you will, but as for myself, I wouldn’t have minded seeing a Phife/Tip reunion track. Even Busta and Tip would’ve been nice although to be fair, Busta really wouldn’t have fit in with the groove of the whole thing.

3. The one solid track: Won’t Trade

Final Thoughts:

I love this. So far, the fall quarter of 2008 is shaping up to be the best quarter of this year with quality releases dropping left and right. And even within the storm of unusually good hip hop at this time of year, I feel that Tip’s Renaissance really stands out. Tip fans, don’t be worried, it’s much much better than Amplified was. And for those who aren’t Tip fans, get into this man’s music as soon as you can, starting with his Tribe Called Quest material and working your way to this one.

It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you..without a strong rhyme to step to. Seriously though, apologies all around for the long ass hiatus but I’ve been busy as hell lately with school starting up again and whatnot. But I’m back, and I’ll try not to go on such a dragged out break ever again (no promises though). I’ve also decided to change the format of this whole thing a bit more. I’ll have three categories: hits, balls and strikes. Under hits will be reasons that I believe you should absolutely pick up this album. Strikes are the reasons that may cause you to want to avoid the album in question. Balls are the things that are totally up in the air and are ultimately up to the reader to decided whether it’s a good thing or not.

Anyways, to pick up right where I left off, Beats Rhymes and Life is the fourth album by A Tribe Called Quest and comes a full three years after the bonafide classic of an album, Midnight Marauders. With the Tribe’s first three albums having received the enormous amount of critical acclaim that they did, they had a lot to live upto and most likely felt a lot of pressure throughout the recording sessions. As such, Beats Rhymes and Life sounds a bit darker than all of it’s predecessors. Some other things were changed from the tried and true Tribe formula of the late80s/early90s albums, but I’ll get into that as the review continues.

Hits:

1. It’s Tribe. I mean, if you’d read my last three reviews and have gone out and listened to those masterpieces, you should’ve already hunted this shit down and listened to it.

2. Some people are bound to disagree with me on this but fuck it. Tribe’s fourth album was the first to feature production from the super production group The Ummah, which consisted of Ali Shaheed, Q-Tip, and J Dilla. There are a good number of Tribe fans who argue that Jay Dee’s inclusion into the production led to a change in sound that ultimately led to Tribe’s work being of a subpar quality. Fuck that. The beats on this album are actually pretty damn good except maybe the ones for Baby Phife’s Return and Word Play. They’re different, I’ll give them that, but in no way are they subpar. I’ll say it again, The Ummah did not ruin A Tribe Called Quest.

3. This album is really the last time you’ll hear such great chemistry between our two lead rappers as the next album is…well, we’ll get to that when we get to that I guess. But the point here is, appreciate as much of it as you can while it’s there.

4. These are the tracks that I’ve picked out to be good: Phony Rappers, Get A Hold, Motivators, Jam, The Pressure, 1nce Again, Mind Power, The Hop, Keep It Movin, What Really Goes On, Stressed Out. Out of those, The Pressure and What Really Goes On are really the stand out tracks. Seriously, What Really Goes On is a damn monster of a track.

Strikes:

3 words. Lack Of Phife. Since People’s, Phife Dawg has steadily evolved from throwaway sidekick rapper to an integral part of the team. On Midnight Marauders the man was on all but 2 of the tracks (not including the intro) and he ripped it up. I mean, Midnight Marauders has some of the illest shit ever spit by dude and he outshone his partner Tip on a good number of tracks. You would think that this album would make more use of him but on the contrary he’s missing on more than a third of the album. Hell, he only has three more tracks than Consequence who’s not even an official member of the fucking group. As much as I love Tip, I love it even more when the two of them work together. That’s it for strikes really. There were no tracks that really jumped out at me as bad.

Balls:

1. The frequent appearance of Consequence was a puzzler to me. For those who don’t know, Consequence is Q-Tip’s cousin and the average rap fan today probably only knows him because of Kanye West. Anyways, the man is featured on a total of six tracks throughout and led lots of people (including myself) to think that he was soon to be an official member of the Tribe (kinda like Cappa and the Wu). We know now that that didn’t happen, but regardless ‘quence pops up again and again throughout Beats, Rhymes and Life. He’s actually not bad at rapping and holds his own on the tracks, but ultimately his presence is offsetting. Awkward if you will.

2. The sequencing of the tracks, specifically of the first, could’ve been better. Phony Rappers is a good track no doubt, but it sounds strange and really abrupt as a first track. I honestly believe that Pressure, with it’s mini Tribe Called Quest medley intro or 1nce Again, with it’s throwback to Check The Rhime, should’ve been the first track and have helped ease the fans into the newer sound.

3. These are the tracks that I thought were just alright: Crew, Baby Phife’s Return, Separate/Together, Word Play

Final Thoughts:

Beats Rhymes and Life is a seriously underrated album when it comes to A Tribe Called Quest. Most people dismissed it because it didn’t live up to the standards of Midnight Marauders and A Low End Theory, but honestly, nothing is fucking with those two. Besides, this album is pretty darn great in its own right (I would actually place it on par with People’s, which I think is a slightly overrated album) and the edgier, darker sound isn’t as different as a lot of people think and would have probably ended up doing great things for the group if The Love Movement hadn’t happened. Overall, I would recommend that you do yourself a favor and check it out

We’ve now come to the third album in our tour of A Tribe Called Quest, and the third of which is recognized as a bonafide classic. The name for this album, as explained in one of the interludes, is derived from the fact that they listen to most of their music at midnight and that they maraud for ears. People’s and The Low End Theory, while fantastic albums, weren’t exactly unarguable classics in my eyes (most people may disagree), so the point of today’s review is to see if their third “classic” will be able to hold up to those golden standards.

The Midnight Marauders Tour Guide, serves as the album’s intro and introduces the album to us as a sort of program that we are being led through. This woman will show up time and again after tracks, much in the same way Jarobi did on People’s except fortunately for us, these interludes are actually pretty interesting and most importantly, they’re short. As soon as the introduction is done, the
album jumps right into the Steve Biko (Stir It Up), the horns come in, and my headstarts bobbing. Phife and Tip trade verse after verse after verse and I’m effectively convinced that this is a great first actual song. The next song, Award Tour, features Trugoy of the fellow Native Tongue members De La Soul, and is one hell of a track. At first, I was sort of disappointed that Trugoy only got to do the hook on this, but soon I realized this track just fucking rocks either way. This makes it even more surprising that 8 Million Stories, the Phife solo track, holds its own despite being sequenced after it. The next track up is Sucka Nigga, in which Q-Tip discusses how he doesn’t like it when people use the word as a term of endearment (although he did so himself at Rock The Bells). I actually like this song a lot, although it really didn’t need to be a Tip solo joint, considering that he spits the same damn verse twice. Midnight  is yet another Tip solo venture (which really makes me wish they had a Phife verse on the last track) and it continues the trend of quality found thus far. However, I do skip it from time to time, not because it’s a bad track, but because usually I can’t wait for the next four tracks.

The next four tracks on this album are what I consider to be it’s centerpiece. It’s four excellent songs that just blew my mind the first time I heard them. First up is We Can Get Down, which is infectious as hell. However, this track pales in comparison to what comes next, because up next is Electrical Relaxation, which I’m totally convinced is one of the greatest tracks released in any genre ever. Seriously, if you’ve never listened to any Tribe song in your life, do yourself a favor and youtube this shit now. Anyways, following my personal favorite Tribe song of all time is no small task but Clap Your Hands is a great track that does the job correct. The beat changes up in subtle ways throughout the verses and the hook, and it’s really one hell of a listen. The next track features Busta Rhymes but don’t expect any of the ridiculousness that was found on Scenario. On Oh My God, Busta’s role has been reduced to simply the hook (probably to avoid any show stealing), but I have to say, there couldn’t have been a better choice for the job. Phife drops some of the best lines of his career and overall the song is pure unadulterated quality hip hop.

Keep It Rollin is a track that really suffers from the sequencing. It’s a good track, but it’s nowhere near as good as the four monsters that preceed it and because of that, for the longest time, I’ve skipped it. However, one day I had my iPod on shuffle when this song came on, and that day I decided to actually give it a proper listen and I realized that it was actually a great song, complete with a Large Pro guest appearance. The next song, The Chase Pt II, however would probably sound average pretty much wherever you sequence it. I think it’s just an alright song, and even though your interlude will tell you that it’s the end of the Midnight Marauders program, it’s not the last track and thank God for that. Or else we never would’ve got Lyrics To Go, which is a testament to great producing. That high note that you’re hearing in the background all throughout is actually a vocal sample from Inside My Love. It’s haunting and creates the perfect soundscape. The last track is God Lives Through and it samples Oh My God’s chorus, but that’s really the only thing it has in common with that song. Well, other than the fact that both songs are superb. God Lives Through is a monstrous track that ends the whole album well with 1 sick verse each from Phife and Tip.

The Good: Steve Biko, Award Tour, 8 Million Problems, Sucka Nigga, Midnight, We Can Get Down, Electrical Relaxation, Clap Your Hands, Oh My God, Keep It Rollin, Lyrics To Go, God Lives Through

The Solid: Midnight Marauders Tour Guide, The Chase Pt II

The Bad: N/A

While The Low End Theory was a practice in minimalism, Midnight Marauders is a whole new different beast, as the production on this is simply in your face, kick ass, high energy jazz. I honestly have no qualms with labeling this album as a no brainer classic. It is without a doubt one of the greatest hip hop albums I’ve ever heard and probably will ever hear in my life and you should be halfway out your door on your way to the nearest Best Buy to pick this up by the time you finish reading this sentence.

My A Tribe Called Quest Discography Ranking Thus Far

1. Midnight Marauders
2. The Low End Theory
3. People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm

Note: From this point on, I’ve decided to stop giving out number scores, since they really are very ambiguous and arbitrary. I’ll just give you my final thoughts of whether this album is worth your time or not, and my ranking of the album in question compared with other albums from the same artist’s or group’s discography I’ve reviewed previously.

Moving right along, we reach A Tribe Called Quest’s second album, The Low End Theory. The album takes a slightly darker production than Tribe’s debut album and finds Tribe one member named Jarobi short. Just as well because by this time our black horse Phife Dawg had finally given up dreams of playing professional sports and had stepped his rap game way the fuck up. As such, although Q-Tip was still rightfully the main driving force of the rapping, Phife was actually featured on more than a mere three tracks making Low End Theory seem more like a group album than the Q-Tip solo People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm had been.

The Low End Theory upon it’s release, was hailed as a classic. Hell, it still is hailed as a classic. You go to any respected hip hop circle and drop the name and heads go crazy. It’s on a whole bunch of “best of lists” including Rolling Stones’ (yes the same Rolling Stones that shitted on Tribe’s last album) The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and their Top 25 Hiphop albums. And of course it received the perfect score of 5 mics from the Source Magazine (mind you this was back when The Source was still respected. Before they started giving out 5 mics to Lil Kim of all people.) So, when it’s all said and done, does the album live up to it’s reputation? Well, that’s what we’re about to find out.

Well, there’s no crying baby intro on this album, as Excursions comes on and Tip rhymes over a sick bass line. A great track and a great start to this album. Then, a Tribe classic, Buggin Out, kicks in and Phife spits a verse that’s heads above any of the three verses he put out on People’s. The progress Phife makes over the span of the first three albums is actually pretty amazing. Guess that’s what happens when you spend all your time in a studio with hip hop legends. But more on the song. Another minimalist beat but that’s not a complaint. In fact, the beat works very well and the two emcees do it more than enough justice. Afterwards is Rap Promoter, which is a decent enough song to keep things moving.

The next song, Butter, may come as somewhat of a surprise because it’s a Phife Dawg solo track. Tip is found nowhere on this track except on the hook, and what’s even more surprising the first time around is that it’s actually a pretty good song. A lot of people seem to regard Phife as just that other emcee, but in actuality he had some sick verses throughout his career, and on the next album has some of my favorites from Tribe. Anyways, the next track is a Q-Tip solo as apparent from the name, Verses From The Abstract, and it should come as no surprise. Show Business which features Sadat X and Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian and producer/rapper Diamond D sounds out of place as hell on this minimalist album, but the energy brought onto the track makes it so good that I don’t care. Another thing I find myself not caring about much is the next track, Vibes and Stuff. It’s always been the one track that I never could bring myself to fully listen to and I don’t plan to change that any time soon.

The Infamous Date Rape has a strange subject but the song comes off alright enough (remember Ham N Eggs?). It’s at least good enough to warrant a couple of listens although you may find yourself skipping it on later listens. The next song, Check The Rhime introduced the infamous Industry Rule #4080 (record company people are shaddyyyy) and also got me hooked onto Tribe in the first place. Tip and Phife tag team and trade rhymes with each other and it all results in one kick ass song. Everything Is Fair is another alright song, but it doesn’t really stand out next to the rest of the album (although to be fair this is a pretty damn good album). At least the next track is great. Apparently Pete Rock produced the original beat for Jazz (We’ve Got), and honestly I don’t know if that’s true or not. All I know is you’re going to love this song.

Skypager is another song that isn’t horrible, but I just don’t really have the urge to listen to. Probably because the next track, What, is a lot better. It’s a strange song, to be sure, but it’s quite enjoyable and addicting. Still, no track could prepare for our final song, Scenario. Just when you thought that Check The Rhime would be safe as far as best song on this album goes, this monster of a posse cut comes out of nowhere and absolutely rips things up. Seriously, from the first verse (which just happens to be one of my favorite Phife verses ever) all the way to the last, Busta’s legendary lyrical outburst, this song kicks so much ass, it’s unbelievable. It’s an excellent finish to the whole thing.

The Good: Excursions, Buggin’ Out, Rap Promoter, Butter, Verses From The Abstract, Show Business, Check The Rhime, Jazz (We’ve Got), What, Scenario

The Solid: The Infamous Date Rape, Everything Is Fair, Skypager

The Bad: Vibes and Stuff

Strangely enough, The Low End Theory doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as I remember it to be and there is a surprising amount of average material on it. Still, it’s not too much (it’s only a surprising amount because it’s freaking TLET) and some of the good tracks are so good, that you’ll find yourself not giving a fuck. It has it’s share of rough spots but compared with most of the album, it’s really pretty negligible and while it’s an overrated classic in my eyes, there’s a reason and that reason is that the album is excellent. Pick it up as soon as you can.

My A Tribe Called Quest Discography Ranking Thus Far

1. The Low End Theory
2. People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm

After Rock The Bells last Sunday, I realized that as legendary as A Tribe Called Quest is, there are still some people who don’t know anything about them besides their name. So I decided to take it upon myself to do a series on the discography of one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time.

A Tribe Called Quest consisted of emcees Q-Tip and Phife Dawg, and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and for their debut album also included Jarobi White (a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y). They’re considered legends for a reason boys and girls and that reason is not making a stupid new dance craze. Far from it, the group was known for revolutionizing hip hop through both lyrics and beats. Altogether they’ve created 3 albums generally considered classics within hip hop circles, 1 considered pretty damn good, and one that well….is honestly not that great but did I mention that they made 3 classic albums????

Anyways, their debut, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, was received with more or less mixed emotions. Some hailed it as the new movement and others regarded it as passable. Rolling Stones magazine actually went so far as to say, “It’s impossible to imagine how people will put this music to use.” Well, regardless of how it was initially received, we in 2008 now know that people eventually came to see the light, and the album was showered with accolades and regarded as one of the best albums ever known to man. The question of course is, is this praise merited?? Well, it’s been a while since I’ve listened to it, so let’s refresh.

The album begins with the “birth” of A Tribe Called Quest in Push It Along, as you can tell from the strange crying baby sample. But then the beat kicks in, and by the time Q-Tip’s melodic rapping comes on, all you’re left with is a freaking great song. This song is one of the few on the album that features Phife Dawg, which is just as well because at this point, Phife hadn’t evolved into that great rapper we all know and love just yet (He was still busy thinking about how to become a successful athlete to give his all into rapping) Then, there’s a long ass interlude by Jarobi and then Luck Of Lucien begins. Horns on the hook included, I freaking love this song.

The next track is After Hours, and it’s an overall great track, but that’s due more to the absolute beauty of the production. Tip’s rhymes aren’t bad by any means, but the beat does overpower him. The beat on the following track, Footprints is just as great, if not better, and to top it all off, on this track, Tip actually matches its quality tit for tat. Left My Wallet In El Segundo is one of the weirder songs on the album and seems to be entirely about losing his wallet on a road trip. The story tellings excellent, but that doesn’t change the fact that the story itself is just random. With the album’s next track, Pubic Enemy, the album hits it’s first miss. I’ve never liked this song, and listening to it now, I still don’t like it. Enjoy a good laugh over the name, listen to the first minute or so and feel free to skip it. You won’t be missing out on much. Fortunately for us, the next song coming up is the epicly sweet Bonita Applebum. Seriously, it’s a great fucking song and I’m pretty damn sure The Fugees were listening to this when they were recording their own classic, The Score. Listen to Killing Me Softly if you don’t believe me.

Afterwards, Can I Kick It comes on and, Phife! Where the hell have you been? I know the dude is not impressing too much on this album, but by the time the next album rolled around, the 5 foot freak had seriously stepped his game up. For now though, I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it. Anyways, it’s a dope track and it makes the next 2 tracks, Youthful Expression and Rhythm (Devoted to The Art Of Moving Butts), look like nothing special. Youthful Expression is actually a pretty sweet track, just bad sequencing, and Rhythm may just have the most ridiculous title ever given to a hip hop song ever. Mr Muhammad, may be devoted to ATCQ’s sick ass producer, but the track itself is just boring I’ve never actually gotten through the entire track. Ham N’ Eggs, easily takes the cake for strange rap topics, as the rappers rap an entire song about…vegetarianism. Despite sounding like it belongs on Sesame Street, I think it’s decent enough. At least it’s better than Go Ahead In The Rain, which has to be one of my least favorite Tribe tracks ever. Thankfully for all involved, the last track, Description Of A Fool, is a LOT better, and ends the album on somewhat of a high note.

The Good: Push It Along, Luck Of Lucien, After Hours, Footprints, Left My Wallet In El Segundo, Bonita Applebum, Can I Kick It, Youthful Expression, Rhythm (Devoted To The Art Of Moving Butts), Description Of A Fool

The Solid: Ham N’ Eggs

The Bad: Pubic Enemy, Mr Muhammad, Go Ahead In The Rain

Final Score: 9.0/8.5

When all is said and done People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is not the unquestionable classic people claim it is. A lot of people won’t agree with me, but listening to it, it’s clear that Tribe still had some room to grow and there are some missteps on this album. However, just because it’s not classic, doesn’t mean it’s not great and there are more shining moments than missteps to be found. Overall, it’s an album that isn’t their best, but it is a great album that really shows flashes of brilliance that promises excellent things to be done in years to come.