A Tribe Called Quest
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
A Tribe Called Quest was formed in 1988, though both Q-Tip (b. Jonathan Davis) and Phife (b. Malik Taylor) had grown up together in Queens. Q-Tip met DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad while at high school and, after being named by the Jungle Brothers (who attended the same school), the trio began performing. A Tribe Called Quests recording debut came in August 1989, when their single, Description of a Fool, appeared on a tiny area label (though Q-Tip had previously guested on several tracks from De La Souls 3 Feet High and Rising and later appeared on Deee-Lites Groove Is in the Heart).
Signed to Jive Records by 1989, A Tribe Called Quest released their first album, Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, one year later. Much like De La Soul, Tribe looked more to jazz as well as 70s ock for their sample base -- Can I Kick It? plundered Lou Reeds classic Walk on the Wild Side and made it viable in a hip-hop context. No matter how solid their debut was, second album The Low End Theory outdid all expectations and has held up as perhaps the best hip-hop LP of all time.
The Low End Theory had included several tracks with props to hip-hop friends, and A Tribe Called Quest cemented their support of the ap community with 1993s Midnight Marauders. The album cover and booklet insert included the faces of more than 50 rappers -- including obvious choices such as De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers -- as well as mild surprises like the Beastie Boys, Ice-T, and Heavy D. Though impossible to trump Low Ends brilliance, the LP offered several classics (including Tribes most infectious single to date, Award Tour) and a harder sound than the first two albums. During the summer of 1994, A Tribe Called Quest toured as the obligatory ap act on the ~Lollapalooza Festival lineup, and spent a quiet 1995, marked only by several production jobs for Q-Tip. Returning in 1996 with their fourth LP, Beats, Rhymes and Life, Tribe showed signs of wear; it was a good album, but proved less striking than The Low End Theory or Midnight Marauders. While touring in support of 1998s The Love Movement, the group announced their impending breakup.
