A Tribe Called Quest

Tribe's third album, Midnight Marauders, is often thought of as the group's best work. Mellow, jazz-tinged production abounds, topped with clever and intelligent lyrics from Q-Tip and Phife. Features the hit singles "Award Tour" and "Electric Relaxation," as well as other gems like "Oh My God" and "Lyrics To Go."

Can you envision/a brother who ain't dissin'?" asked A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip on the rap
group's 1990 debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, a
breakthrough in what became known as Afrocentric hip-hop. It was a refreshing idea then,
and Quest pulled it off with panache; their raps were gently wry, while their jazzy jams
proved that dope beats don't need sledgehammer impact to kick ass. In today's... More >

Like so many "beats," Low End Theory's Ron Carter bass was really a glorified sound effect--what excited its admirers wasn't its thrust, or even the thrill of the sound itself, so much as the classiness it signified. Kicking off with a disembodied computer voice promising "presentation precise, bass-heavy, and just right," this follow-up makes that bass rock the house, literally, and never contents itself with concept. Right, they "kick more game than a crackhead from Hempstead." But rather than "kick a rhyme over ill drumrolls," as I don't doubt they can, they construct horn hooks I love better than I understand. (Grade - A-)