But overall this is another feel-good mix of smart grooves and the wittiest rhymes this side of Noel Coward. Q-Tip and Phife's posse flows were, by this point, honed to perfection, with most tracks seeing them bounce off each other like some funked-up game of table tennis.Īmidst the self-deprecation there was some serious stuff as well with issues of misogyny ("The Infamous Date Rape" and "Butter") and rap's descent into brutalism ("Rap Promoter", "Show Business") being addressed. Like its predecessor it combined humour with insight to show the world that 'rap' needn't be equated with the worst aspects of the American dream. : A Tribe Called Quest, : The Low End Theory, : 48:03,, : mp3. It was released during the fall of 1991, but my introduction to the album was late. Remember that this was in direct contrast to the West Coast G Funk about to explode onto the scene. But one album opened my mind to the musical possibilities of hip-hop: The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest.
pushed the jazz connection even further with a sparse but not quite minimal selection of grooves built around some exquisitely chosen upright bass samples, and in the case of "Verses From The Abstract" actually utilising the real-time skills of legend Ron Carter. So when they followed it up with as close to a perfect album, The Low End Theory, their place in history was assured. The laid back style of Q-Tip and Phife Dawg over the jazz sampleology of Ali Shaheed Muhammad, along with the daisy age raps of De La Soul, almost single-handedly defined the alternative rap scene, where intelligence and musical nouse replaced guns, hos and bragging. For one summer in 1990, alongside the strains of Madchester, the streets resounded to the sound of "Can I Kick It?" and "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo".
If A Tribe Called Quest had stopped with their first album, People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm, they'd still be regarded as a seminal hip hop act.