The Greatest 50 Hip-hop Albums Ever - #6...

[Twentytwofifty]

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991) 


    While most of the players in the jazz-rap movement never quite escaped the pasted-on qualities of their vintage samples, with The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest created one of the closest and most brilliant fusions of jazz atmosphere and hip-hop attitude ever recorded.  The rapping by Q-Tip and Phife Dawg could be the smoothest of any rap record ever heard; the pair are so in tune with each other, they sound like flip sides of the same personality, fluidly trading off on rhymes, with the former earning his nickname (the Abstract) and Phife concerning himself with the more concrete issues of being young, gifted, and black.  The jazz influence is present throughout the entire album.  The legendary Ron Carter displays his skill on the upright bass on “Verses From The Abstract”, which was one of the first collabos between a jazz musician and hip-hop artist.  “Jazz (We’ve Got)” finds Tip explaining that “I don’t really mind if it’s over your head/’Cuz the job of resurrectors is to wake up the dead” over a slick trumpet sample from the late jazz legend Miles Davis.  Phife brags about how his “whole attitude was new day new hon’/And believe it or not, they all got done” on the saxophone-laced “Butter”.

    One thing the Tribe does focus on though throughout the LP of the music industry's attempts to seperate brothers from their rightfully earned money.  "Check The Rhime" introduced rap to the phrase one of the most repeated and flipped lines ever (“Industry rule number…”) and it's a testament to Q-Tip that it's still used to describe being wronged in a record deal to this day:

Okay, if knowledge is the key then just show me the lock
Got the scrawny legs but I move just like Lou Brock
With speed, I'm agile plus I'm worth your while
One hundred percent intelligent black child
My optic presentation, sizzles the retina
How far must you go to gain respect? Ummmmmmm...
Well, it's kind of simple, just remain your own
Or you'll be crazy sad and alone
Industry rule number four thousand and eighty
Record company people are shadyyyyy!
So kids watch your back cause I think they smoke crack
I don't doubt it - look at how they act!

    You can listen to this song on tape again and again and again. But such is the harmonious nature of this album that you could virtually start and stop anywhere within it's arrangement and not be dissapointed by the effort.  Take "Jazz (We Got The)" for example, which could and should just as easily be flipped and called "We Got The Jazz."  If you ever wondered where the hip-hop phrase "boomin in ya boomin in ya boomin in ya Jeep" came from, it's a sample straight from the song - and it's consistant reusage is yet another testament to the fact Tribe tapped a vein on this one and fed rap straight to the brain:

So push it, along, trails, we blaze
Don't deserve the gong, don't deserve the praise
The tranquility will make ya unball your fist
For we put hip-hop on a brand new twist
A brand new twist with the homie-alistic
So low-key that ya probably missed it
And yet it's so loud that it stands in the crowd
When the guy takes the beat, they bowed

    All the bases are covered with this album.  "Rap Promoter" sounds like a biographical day-in-the-life song at first, but then turns the chunk-a-chunk 70's type swing into a lecture to bookers that if you're not going to pay, they're not going to play.  "Skypager" details the joys and woes of owning the device, at a time when their influence was so broad that millions of hip-hop heads probably bought one just to jump on the bandwagon.  "Vibes And Stuff" is some kick off your shoes and soak in the shuffle step slow groove goodness, while "The Infamous Date Rape" might have surprised and shocked some by it's title and topic matter.  Most critiques of this song wrongly interpreted the blunt honesty of the song, when in fact Q-Tip explicitly states that no tomfoolery will take place on the male’s part.

    Guests aren't very abundant on this album, but the two places they appear are two of the all-time stand out posse cuts in hip-hop history.  The first of these joints is "Show Business" featuring Brand Nubian and Diamond D, and one gets the impression that the Tribe are not the only rappers who have a deep mistrust of the record industry.  Diamond D's rap may be the album's best on the topic, and even has a sly diss for a label rich in talent but lean on making payments.  The second of these two became a massive (and to me surprising) crossover sensation.  This song was so large, Brain Austin Green was rapping along to it on the hit show Beverly Hills 90210.  If you don't already know, then go and check the "Scenario" starring Leaders Of The New School side by side with the Tribe.  Every verse shined, but Busta Rhymes brought his rising star into full focus with a phenomenal closing verse performance.

    As the last track on the album, it takes all of the action to climactic heights through off key piano chords and a pulsing rhythm so powerful it could break your neck clean through if you resist bobbing along to it.  When one examines the annals of hip-hop history to look for dynasties, the group collectively known as A Tribe Called Quest has to be on the short list.  On three successive albums, from People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm to Midnight Marauders, the crew held together by the smooth beats that dominated the ears of hip-hop faithful worldwide.  Sandwiched in between these towering icons of rap history is this legendary album in it's own right.  Figuratively and literally (as in their neon green and red painted album cover girl) the album was all about fusing the bottom to the top.  Intelligent songs, with smooth funky beats, the tracks could make your groove thing swing, and on deeper inspection reveal the flow of soulful poets deeply in touch with the spirit and soul of hip-hop.  Very few rap groups achieved this much success over back to back albums, but from their freshman debut to their sophomore release the Tribe proved so powerful that rap fans came to expect greatness from them each time out - and for a while at least, they were never dissapointed - and neither will be new converts to this classic.



As a bonus review we have ?uestlove's thoughts on this classic:

    Considered by most as the album that gave birth to the bastard jazz offspring that sprouted up a few years later-Digable, Justice System, Dream Warriors, and uhhh… some cats from Philly.  Remember that scene in Banned From Television Vol. 1 when this big ass African elephant goes buckwild in the circus tent, trampling the people and all in her sight?  Even with 600 rounds of bullets in her body she was rollin’down the street like it was nothing.  Well, The Low End Theory is that elephant.  Tribe broke it down the bare minimum of bass and drums.  They managed to achieve a basic formula of funk without resorting to the temptation of the “look ma no hands” tricks that Cypress, PE, Son of Bazerk and De La effortlessly achieved.  Jazz cats dropped in to jam without sounding forced (see: Doo-Bop).  They slowed the then tempo of 1991 (about 119 bpm) to 97 bpm, letting the tempos ease up on ya.  Also, Tribe’s patented, wacky time signature style reared its head on the 6/4 classic “Skypager”.  Even their pre-Hype Williams videos were ahead of the time-“Jazz”, “Buggin Out” and “Scenario”.  Speaking of which, it was the remix of the latter that proved to be the most revolutionary of all.  Its production influenced a whole new style of beatmaking.  3rd Bass may have pulled the trick a year before with their “Products Of Environment” remix (although it had no impact), but Tribe took the Emotions’ “Blind Alley” loop (Kane’s “Ain’t No Half Steppin’”) and manipulated the drums by using 1/4th of the loop-giving the song a new lease on life at train wreck speed.  Soon every producer realized that once you got a drum break, you didn’t have to use the whole darn thing.  Besides, it later proved to be a clever way to hide the obvious samples from the sample sharks.  By the end of the year Tribe had achieved the impossible: no artistic compromises, and all the glory for sticking to its guns.


50. Dr. Dre – 2001 (1999)
49. Outkast – Southernplayalisticaddicmuzik (1994)
48. Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt (1996)
47. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1990)
46. Redman – Whut? Thee Album (1992)
45. De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
44. Fugees – The Score (1996)
43. The D.O.C. – No One Can Do It Better (1989)
42. Common Sense - Resurrection (1994)
41. Makaveli - The Don Kiluminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)
40. Public Enemy – Fear Of A Black Planet (1990)
39. Ice Cube – Death Certificate (1992)
38. Gza/Genius - Liquid Swords (1995)
37. N.W.A – Efil4zaggin (1991)
36. Main Source – Breaking Atoms (1991)
35. Geto Boys – Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)
34. Brand Nubian – One For All (1990)
33. Scarface – The Diary (1994)
32. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Road To The Riches (1989)
31. Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill (1986)
30. Ultramagnetic MC's – Critical Beatdown (1988)
29. LL Cool J – Radio (1985)
28. 2Pac – All Eyez On Me (1996)
27. Mobb Deep – The Infamous… (1995)
26. Eric B. & Rakim – Follow The Leader (1988)
25. Big Daddy Kane – It’s A Big Daddy (1989)
24. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth – Mecca And The Soul Brother (1992)
23. Black Moon – Enta Da Stage (1993)
22. Outkast – Aquemini (1998)
21. A Tribe Called Quest – People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm (1990)
20. Run-D.M.C. – Run-D.M.C. (1984)
19. Boogie Down Productions – By All Means Necessary (1988)
18. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995)
17. De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising (1989)
16. Snoop Doggy Dogg – Doggystyle (1993)
15. Ice Cube – AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)
14. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die (1994)
13. Run-D.M.C. – Raising Hell (1986)
12. EPMD – Strictly Business (1988)
11. Big Daddy Kane – Long Live The Kane (1988)
10. A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders (1993)
09. Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded (1987)
08. N.W.A – Straight Outta Compton (1988)
07. Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988)
06. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory (1991)

[We Fly High]

props. one of my all time favs. already own og though, everyone should own it. i was fortunate to find a promo poster of this cd from over like 15 years ago... gonna frame it up in my new place.

[Javier]

The rapping by Q-Tip and Phife Dawg could be the smoothest of any rap record ever heard;

 




I dont know how many times ive listend to this album ever since I purchased it in 02

[Thuglife]

not feeling it

[Kill]

Love this album...props again, I would´ve put it somewhere around 6-10 too

[West Coast Veteran]

This is definitely Top 10. Brought in that whole Jazz feel into hip hop.

[Bramsterdam (see ya)]

props man, this album is dope

[Javier]

not feeling it

y?

[notorious^q8I]

ok i guess this guarantees that the chronic and all eyez on me r both top 5 dont it?

[CHEF_RAEKWON]

i'd say illmatic,paid in full,chronic,stress and a gangstarr album will complete the top 5

[Kill]

ok i guess this guarantees that the chronic and all eyez on me r both top 5 dont it?

Chronic, def, he won´t put 2001 there and not include Chronic at all, that would be insane

AEOM was no. 28 I think, something like that anyways

[Minkaveli]

props.  Good call.  Still waiting for another Common sighting...

[icebergslimIII]

This list gets more and more ridiculous with each # in the countdown! I don't think this album went multi platinu. I'm waiting for X-Clan to be #5! I would expect to see some of the top selling rap albums of all time in the top 10, not this crap by Tribe Called Quest. I can see most all top selling rap albums of all time being in the top 10 except for the likes of Tone Loc or Vanilla Ice. I would even give a nod to MC Hammer being in the top 10. Tribe Called Quest is a joke!

[eS El Duque]

This list gets more and more ridiculous with each # in the countdown! I don't think this album went multi platinu. I'm waiting for X-Clan to be #5! I would expect to see some of the top selling rap albums of all time in the top 10, not this crap by Tribe Called Quest. I can see most all top selling rap albums of all time being in the top 10 except for the likes of Tone Loc or Vanilla Ice. I would even give a nod to MC Hammer being in the top 10. Tribe Called Quest is a joke!

LMAO...post of the year?

[Javier]

PEople dissing the tribe makes me sick to my stomach, seriously