A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985, originally composed of rapper and main producer Q-Tip, rapper Phife Dawg, DJ and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and rapper Jarobi White. A Tribe Called Quest came to prominence as members of the Native Tongues collective, which they co-founded in 1988. Widely regarded as pioneers of alternative hip hop and jazz rap, John Bush of AllMusic called them "the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s", and Kris Ex of Pitchfork regarded them as "one of the greatest acts that hip-hop has ever produced".
The group's debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, earned critical acclaim, receiving the first five 'mic' rating in The Sources history. Their jazz-infused follow-up, The Low End Theory, helped shape 1990s alternative hip hop, and was followed by the equally influential Midnight Marauders. Beats, Rhymes and Life, became their first Billboard 200 chart-topper. Their fifth album The Love Movement, preceded their breakup. After reuniting in 2006 for sporadic tours, the group released its final album, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, which topped the Billboard 200 and earned critical praise; it featured posthumous contributions from Phife Dawg, who died eight months before its release.
A Tribe Called Quest was the most commercially successful act in the Native Tongues, with all six of its albums certified either gold or platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The group's influence transcends hip hop, as they are credited with inspiring the neo soul genre. Their most notable songs include "Can I Kick It?", "Scenario", "Award Tour", "Electric Relaxation" and "Bonita Applebum", along with collaborations "Buddy" with De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Monie Love and Queen Latifah, and "Rumble in the Jungle" with Fugees, Busta Rhymes and John Forte. They received the Founders Award at the 2005 Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, were honored at the 4th VH1 Hip Hop Honors, and won the 2017 Brit Award for International Group. A Tribe Called Quest was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.
History
1985–1990: Formation, Native Tongues, and ''People's Instinctive Travels''
and Phife Dawg were childhood friends who grew up together in the St. Albans neighbourhood of Queens, New York City. Initially, Q-Tip performed as a battle rapper, under the name MC Love Child, occasionally teaming up with Murry Bergtraum High School classmate Ali Shaheed Muhammad as a rapper and DJ duo. In 1985, the duo began making demos over Q-Tip's pause tape beats. Phife Dawg later joined them, though he didn't become a full member until neighbourhood friend Jarobi White joined; the group dubbed themselves "Crush Connection" and later "Quest". The group's final name, A Tribe Called Quest, was coined in 1988 by Jungle Brothers, who attended the same high school as Q-Tip and Muhammad; that year, Q-Tip made his first recorded appearances on Jungle Brothers' songs "Black Is Black" and "The Promo". Shortly after, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, Queen Latifah and Monie Love formed the Native Tongues collective, known for their like-minded Afrocentrism, positivity and eclectic sampling. In 1989, Phife Dawg made his first recorded appearance on the song "Buddy ", the remix of De La Soul's single "Buddy".A Tribe Called Quest hired Kool DJ Red Alert as their first manager. In early 1989, the group signed a demo deal with Geffen Records and produced a five-song demo, which included future single "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo". Geffen decided against offering the group a recording contract, and the group was granted permission to shop for a deal elsewhere. After receiving lucrative offers for multi-album deals from a variety of labels, the group opted for a modest deal offered by Jive Records. Jive was then known as an independent rap label that partly owed its success to building the careers of artists Boogie Down Productions and Too Short. Later that year, the group released their first 12" single, "Description of a Fool".
Their debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, released on April 17, 1990, was marked by a playful lyrical approach and light-hearted content such as safe sex, vegetarianism and youthful experiences. The music was an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, soul and rock samples. The album was met with critical acclaim; The Source rated it five mics, becoming the first album to receive the magazine's highest rating. NMEs review stated that "This is not rap, it's near perfection." The album only gained momentum after the release of the singles "Bonita Applebum" and "Can I Kick It?", eventually achieving gold certification in 1996.
1991–1993: ''The Low End Theory'', ''Midnight Marauders'', and commercial success
A Tribe Called Quest's second album, The Low End Theory, was released on September 24, 1991, with "Check the Rhime" as the lead single; the song largely established the lyrical interplay between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg. Until then, most of the group's songs had only featured vocals by Q-Tip, but Q-Tip encouraged Phife Dawg to increase his participation despite his recent diabetes diagnosis. Musically, the album fused hip hop with the laid-back atmosphere of jazz, particularly bebop and hard bop, combined with a minimalist approach to production that stripped the sound down to vocals, drums and bass. Mixing engineer Bob Power played a major role on the album, as he was tasked with removing surface noise and static that is typically heard on hip hop songs sampled from old vinyl records. During the recording sessions, White left the group to pursue a career in culinary arts, and they hired Chris Lighty as their new manager after signing to Rush Artist Management.Lyrically, the group focused on a range of social issues, from date rape to consumerism, while also criticizing the hip hop industry on several songs. Guests on the album included Leaders of the New School, Brand Nubian, Vinia Mojica and Ron Carter, who played double bass on the song "Verses from the Abstract". Additional singles included "Jazz " and "Scenario"; a live performance of "Scenario" with Leaders of the New School on The Arsenio Hall Show led to greater popularity. Leaders member Busta Rhymes attracted attention with his verse in the song, which led to him launching a successful solo career.
The Low End Theory received widespread acclaim from critics. The Source gave the group its second consecutive five mic rating, praising their "progressive sound" and "streetwise edge", also noting that "Those who questioned Phife's microphone techniques on the first album will swallow those doubts as he practically steals the show on this one." The album peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold on February 19, 1992; it reached platinum status by 1995. In the aftermath of their success, the group contributed the song "Hot Sex" to the soundtrack for the film Boomerang in 1992.
Conrad Tillard, then known variously as the Hip Hop Minister and Conrad Muhammad, became a fixture in hip-hop in 1993 after he arranged a meeting and a truce in a feud between rising bands Wreckx-N-Effect and A Tribe Called Quest, that Tillard said threatened to turn Harlem into a "war zone".
A Tribe Called Quest released their third album, Midnight Marauders, on November 9, 1993. The lead single, "Award Tour", became the group's highest-charting single and helped to land the album at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. The production, still rooted in jazz, was a return to the eclectic sounds found on People's Instinctive Travels, with a more prominent funk influence, including grittier drums. The voice of a "tour guide", on the intro and at the end of several tracks, added further cohesion to the album.
Midnight Marauders saw improved lyrical interplay between Phife Dawg and Q-Tip, as evidenced on the singles "Electric Relaxation" and "Oh My God"; the popularity of "Electric Relaxation" led to it becoming the opening theme song for the sitcom The Wayans Bros., from 1995 to 1996. Topics on the album include police harassment, religious faith, hip hop and use of the word nigga. Guests on the album include Large Professor, Busta Rhymes and Raphael Saadiq.
The album received widespread acclaim from critics. Entertainment Weekly called the album "as fresh as their first", while Melody Maker stated "A Tribe Called Quest have expanded their vision with a lyrical gravitas and a musical lightness of touch that has hitherto eluded them across a whole album". The album was ranked No. 21 by The Village Voice in that year's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Midnight Marauders became A Tribe Called Quest's fastest-selling album; it was certified platinum on January 11, 1995, only 14 months after its release.
1994–1995: Intermission and the Ummah
At the 1994 Source Awards, Tupac Shakur and his group Thug Life performed their song "Out on Bail", interrupting A Tribe Called Quest as they accepted the award for Group of the Year; it was later found that this apparent act of disrespect was accidental. That summer, the group performed as one of a handful of hip hop acts on the Lollapalooza tour, among acts such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Stereolab and The Verve. While on tour, keyboardist Amp Fiddler introduced Q-Tip to a young producer from Detroit named Jay Dee. At the suggestion of Q-Tip, Jay Dee later joined him and Muhammad, forming a production unit known as The Ummah, in which each member produced songs individually and received a songwriting credit for their work. The Ummah handled the production of A Tribe Called Quest's next two albums.During this period, group members contributed to several notable outside projects with production and guest verses. Phife Dawg, who rapped on "Oh My God" that he owned "more condoms than TLC", made an appearance on the song "Intro-lude" from that group's album, CrazySexyCool, in 1994. That year, Q-Tip produced the single "One Love" from Nas' debut album Illmatic and appeared on the song "Get It Together" by Beastie Boys, from their album Ill Communication. In 1995, Muhammad co-produced the single "Brown Sugar" from D'Angelo's debut album of the same name, and Q-Tip produced three songs for Mobb Deep while serving as a mixing engineer for their album The Infamous. The group contributed "Glamour and Glitz" to The Show: The Soundtrack that year, before returning the following year with their next album.