Zack: From now on, November 4th shall be known as the Easter of the blog. After a month, we have risen from the dead. Hopefully, this intolerable lapse of time will not happen again. Hopefully. Anyways, in my long and illustrious hip-hop fandom career, I have never really listened to A Tribe Called Quest. Not sure how that has happened, or rather how it hasn't. But I do know that it's important to say the entirety of A Tribe Called Quest. A Pimp Named Slickback has made that very clear. It's definitely some very deep hip-hop that will probably take me several listens to truly unlock. But my cursory experience has left me with a few impressions that I will dutifully provide in list form.
1) They credit Afrika Bambaataa several times throughout the album, but they rely mostly on natural instrumentation, rather than the advanced electronic beats of the Zulu Nation.
2) They say that Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. is a major influence, but I've listened to that album before and they sound nothing alike.
3) Busta Rhymes used to be able to KILL it. Like, I mean, totally rip it apart.
4) Seriously, why isn't Eric B. and Rakim's Paid in Full on here? I know I seem to bring this up every time we listen to a hip-hop album but I think it's especially poignant here. I mean, you want to talk about heavy jazz influences and diabolical lyrical skills? The Low End Theory is a great album and one that definitely deserves a place, but Paid in Full is similar stylistically and just 1 step better in every possible way. This infuriates me to no end and I can guarantee you will hear about this whenever we review the next hip-hop album.
But yeah. The Low End Theory is really good. It makes me wish that they were still relevant today. But then again I like Q-Tip as a producer and as that guy who showed up on a Chappelle Show skit that one time. And I love his name. Q-Tip. Lolz.
Favorite Tracks: Vibes and Stuff; Excursions; Scenario
Emily: A few weeks ago, a documentary about A Tribe Called Quest was playing at an independent movie theater around the corner from where I work. A few of my coworkers were going, and one invited me along just to be polite - though, in his words, I'm "probably not a fan of A Tribe Called Quest anyway." Well, I don't remember the exact wording, but that captures the sentiment pretty well. He thought there was no way I could have even heard of A Tribe Called Quest, let alone be a fan of them. At the time of this conversation, though he was rather presumptuous, he was pretty much right. Now, though, I'm definitely intrigued by A Tribe Called Quest. The Low End Theory mixes old-school hip-hop with some jazzy instrumentation. The bass was bumpin' on many tracks - not in a gangsta-rap-and-car-hydraulics kind of way, but rather more like a thumping-upright-bass-in-a-jazz-club way. Combined with masterful lyrics (like the repetition of provocative, poignant, and often hilarious questions in What?), The Low End Theory is unique and just plain cool - an enjoyable step in my evolution into hip-hop appreciation.
Favorite Tracks: Scenario; What?; Excursions
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