A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ) is often recognized as one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all-time. Though ATCQ has released classic albums, oddly it is their most forgotten that achieved the greatest commercial success. In 1996, ATCQ released their fourth album, Beats, Rhymes and Life (BRL), which was generally viewed as their first real disappointment. I purchased the album this summer with the hope of understanding why the album isn’t even mentioned when discussing the legendary group. After listening, even I too believe BRL is a considerable step back compared to their previous work. That said, I believe it can be better understood by examining more than just the music. ATCQ’s fascinating creative shift on BRL was also a product of growing tension within the group and larger stylistic changes in hip-hop.
Reviewing these external factors is pointless without first mentioning ATCQ’s work that preceded BRL, as it plays a crucial role in its reception. In 1990, ATCQ began their career in a strange fashion with their first single “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo.” Listeners, including my father, questioned the singles quirky content but ATCQ encouraged them to not get bogged down by the lyrics and embrace its intended satire. Later that year, they released their debut album People’s Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm, which was received well due to its light-hearted nature that revolved around playful topics. All the while, hits like “Can I Kick It” and “Bonita Applebum” showcased their creativity and played into a movement of Afrocentricity and positivity in hip-hop.
A year later, they released The Low-End Theory which received widespread acclaim for its production. ATCQ was among the first to bridge the gap between jazz and hip-hop. Sampling from artists like Art Blakey and Weather Report made them innovators within the technical elements of hip-hop and singles like “Check the Rhyme” and “Scenario” gave them a national following.
In 1993, ATCQ somehow managed to follow up with Midnight Marauders, one of my favorite albums of all-time. Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip display another masterclass in production sampling from jazz and other genres such as Brazilian bossa nova, seventies funk and eighties R&B. Its production is complemented perfectly by Phife’s storytelling abilities which are on full display in “8 Million Stories.” Midnight Marauders capped ATCQ’s amazing run of three albums in four years, each seeming to outdo its predecessor.
Before the release of BRL, ATCQ fans were accustomed to a certain quality and sound of music that created high expectations for BRL. Roots drummer Questlove in a 1998 interview with The Source addressed ATCQ’s high expectations, “By this time most attitudes were, ‘if Tribe ain’t moving the world with each release, then we won’t stand for nothing less.’”
After completing the Midnight Marauders tour, personal decisions and creative conflicts began to sap the group’s connectivity. Phife believed Midnight Marauders was their last album and his move to Atlanta placed a physical barrier between him, Q-Tip, and Muhammad. In addition, Q-Tip’s conversion to Islam further signaled that he and Phife were simply growing apart as people. With regard to music, Phife also believed he no longer fit in with Q-Tip, who began exploring new musical ventures.
In 1995, Q-Tip and Muhammad began collaborating with James DeWitt Yancey, a young producer from Detroit who later became famous under the name J-Dilla. The production trio known as the Ummah, which means community in Arabic, featured a minimalistic sound that drastically contrasted with ATCQ’s tradition of layered instrumentals. Through Dilla’s influence, ATCQ began slowly pulling away from jazz samples in favor of subtle baselines and short piano solos. Dilla would then alter the pitch and speed of the samples to pair them with unorthodox kick drum combinations that would eventually become a staple of underground hip-hop in the early 2000s. The tracks Ummah released would largely feature lyrics from Q-Tip and his cousin, Consequence, but were without Phife.
With Ummah leading the production of BRL, the particular sound of ATCQ was suddenly gone. Though each beat is ultimately pleasing to the listener, they are darker and absent of the complexities featured on Low-End Theory and Midnight Marauders. Consequence was also featured on featured on six of the fifteen songs, which created conflicts with Phife over who determined their musical direction. Phife addressed this on Michael Rapaport’s 2011 documentary on ATCQ entitled Beats, Rhymes and Life of a Tribe Called Quest.
“The whole M.O. to me was it’s not A Tribe Called Quest, it’s Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest. It’s Diana Ross And The Supremes.”
These internal dynamics altered their production and, more importantly, the cohesiveness that was essential to their sound. One of the most under-appreciated elements of ATCQ was Q-Tip and Phife’s ability to lyrically play off one another. On “Electric Relaxation” this is evident through a seamless transition between the two.
(Q-Tip) Take you on the ave and you buy me links
Now I wanna pound the poontang until it stinks
You can be my mama and I’ll be ya boy
(Phife Dawg) Original rude boy, never am I coy
You can be a shorty in my ill convoy
Their ability to rhyme as one while having contrasting styles was just as important as their innovative production. Q-Tip has a charismatic rhyming and lyrical style that earned him the nickname “The Abstract.” He was not a spectacular lyricist with regard to forming end rhymes but, similar to Mos Def, he mastered the art of tone and timing. Meanwhile, Phife’s style was witty, satirical, and considerably more aggressive.
Let me hit it from the back girl I won’t catch a hernia
Bust off on your couch now you got Seamen’s Furniture.
Somehow, Q-Tip and Phife developed styles that gave them their own identity that was fully compatible when placed together. This type of musical synergy can only be achieved with stellar chemistry and a mutually-agreed understanding of each song’s purpose and goal. With their relationship weakened, the lyrical connectivity was absent on BRL and it felt as if they were recording in separate studios. In addition to their personal conflicts, ATCQ also had to operate in a new era of hip-hop that was hungry for new artists and personalities.
Between Midnight Marauders (‘93) and BRL (‘96), hip-hop began shifting away from black empowerment and towards lyrical content that emphasized the perils of street life and chauvinism. In 1995, Mobb Deep and Bone Thugs & Harmony released their debut albums that were commercial hits with lyrical content that glorified violence and selling drugs. In addition, fans began accepting hip-hop’s growing geographical diversity, which gave new cities a voice, sound, and style.
Until the mid-nineties, hip-hop was dominated by the coasts of New York and California. The previously mentioned Bone Thugs and Harmony put Cleveland on the map and the South began creating a platform with the emergence of Outkast. In 1994, Big Boi and Andre 3000 released their first album Southerplayerlisticcadalckmusik, which featured a single by the same name and “Player’s Ball.” The album gave Atlanta and other parts of the South its own identity that was independent of New York and Los Angeles. During the 1995 Source Awards, Outkast was booed after winning the award for Best New Artist and represented a break from hip-hop tradition. Andre 3000 addressed the rowdy crowd head-on.
“But it’s like like this though, I’m tired of them close-minded folk it’s like we gotta demo tape but don’t nobody want to hear it. But it’s like this, the South got something to say, that’s all I got to say.”
Outkast followed this declaration with their 1996 album ATLians, which featured the smash hit “Elevators (Me & You).” They continued to give hip-hop an authentic view of their reality while using clever world play seen on “ATLiens.”
“Now throw your hands in the air.
And wave them like you just don’t care.
And if you like fish & grits and all that pimp shit
Then everybody let me hear you say oh-yea-yer”
In addition to Outkast, other southern-based acts began to make a name for themselves. Fellow Atlanta natives, Goodie Mob released their debut album Soul Food in 1995 featuring the catchy hit “Cell Therapy.” A year later ushered in the debuts of Three 6 Mafia (Memphis) and Master P (New Orleans). That same year, Houston’s Underground Kingz (UGK) also released their best-selling album, Ridin’ Dirty. Finally, a musical force was slowly forming in Cash Money Records (New Orleans) that would go on to dominate the late nineties.
In addition to the growing willingness to hear new artists, ATCQ was also had to compete with the biggest figures in hip-hop, Biggie Smalls and Tupac. Through albums like Ready to Die (‘94) and All Eyez On Me (‘96), Biggie and Tupac were setting themselves apart with hits and styles that inspired future generations of artists. Their feud forced everyone from hip-hop heads to casual fans to pick a side between East and West. Outspoken personalities like Phife and Suge Knight only grew their profile and made them nationally known.
I believe this context allows us to properly understand the album, but more importantly how much hip-hop changed in just three years. Tribe’s internal conflicts and listeners new affection for emerging artists and stars landed them in an unfamiliar place. Yet, despite the general disappointment surrounding BRL, it has moments that are reminiscent of ATCQ’s earlier albums. BRL will never get the proper credit it deserves for moving a segment of hip-hop toward a more simplistic sound that paved the way for artists like Slum Village, MF Doom, and Common’s work in the early 2000s.
Twenty years later, it is now evident that BRL marked a turning point for the group. Phife would later say regarding the album, “I never wanted my music to feel like just a job.” Though ATCQ would put out their final album The Love Movement in 1998, it remained clear that their days together were numbered. Despite touting classic albums like The Low-End Theory and Midnight Marauders, it is the darker and more confrontational sound of BRL that remains their best-selling project. AV Music’s Kyle Ryan describes ATCQ’s peculiar position perfectly, “A Tribe Called Quest had never been more popular. Or less happy.”
The Thesis 