A Tribe Called Quest

Tribe's excellent debut LP from 1990 introduced the world to one of hip-hop's most beloved crews. Smart and clever rhymes abound here, backed by production that's both mellow and undeniably catchy. Features several classic jams, such as "Bonita Applebaum" and "Footprints."

Inasmuch as the arch and arty New York hip-hop foursome A Tribe Called Quest exudes
any enthusiasm at all on its debut album, that enthusiasm shows up mostly in the grooves,
not the voices. The samples, nowhere as disjointed as those used by ATCQ's overpraised
comrades in De la Soul, alternate between gratuitous fun ("Walk on the Wild Side" and "La
Marseillaise" by way of "All You Need Is Love") and dreamy delirium (Earth, Wind... More >

Not Afrocentric enough to hear this indubitably progressive pastiche as a groove album, I cut-by-cutted it, and I'm glad I did. Though most of the second "side" remains subtler than is by any means necessary, it has more good songs on it than any neutral observer will believe without trying: the Afrogallic "Luck of Lucien," the slumming "After Hours," the cholesterol-conscious "Ham 'n' Eggs," the lustful "Bonita Appleburn," the safe-sex "Pubic Enemy." Which latter, let me cavil, adheres to the rap convention by sticking to gonorrhea, thus rendering AIDS Other-by-omission once again. Onward. (Grade - B+)