A Tribe Called Quest’s tracks need no introduction, as any half hip-hop fan will be able to recognise either their genius jazzy samples or supreme silky flow near on instantly. As part of the pioneering positive-minded hip-hop collective Native Tongues, the New York act formed originally as a quartet in 1985 which included Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and part-time member Jarobi White (who only fully featured on their debut LP). Having created two, if not three, of the best hip-hop albums ever made, Tribe put their beats to bed after 1998’s The Love Movement which before its release, was labelled as the groups final album, with tension and creative differences within the band being the reason for their split.
It was only on 13th November 2015 when the four members of Tribe came together and experienced something they hadn’t had for some time – re-uniting for a one-off performance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of their debut album, People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm, which also happened to fall on the same night as the Paris attacks. The group quickly decided on that night to put their past differences to one side and work on a final album. Only made public two weeks before its release, the surprise of We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service was made all the more poignant for featuring fresh lyrics by Phife who sadly passed away at the age of 45 in March 2016 due to complication with his Type 2 Diabetes.
Straight from the off on ‘The Space Plan’, you have Q-Tip, Jarobi and Phife all bringing the kind of slick flow which made them the best of the best back in the day. I’m sure it isn’t just me, but hearing those distinctive Tribe styled bars produce an overwhelming joy – not only the bucket loads of nostalgia you get from hearing their classic sound but the big relief of Tribe still actually sounding like Tribe. The albums subject matter is outlined from We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service’s beginning, remarking about the important issues going on right now and taking a far more political stance than we have ever heard from the hip-hop act. The first tracks hook repeats “There ain’t a space program for niggas”, with Q-Tip responding “Imagine if this shit was really talking about space, dude”, highlighting the harsh and very real reality African American’s still face in America. Next track follows suit, with ‘We The People’ pushing home the problems of modern America – the song beginning with, “We don’t believe you ‘cause we the people”, with the sardonic chorus jesting:“All you Black folks, you must go / All you Mexicans, you must go / And all you poor folks, you must go / Muslims and gays, boy, we hate your ways / So all you bad folks, you must go”.
Not every song has a politically provocative message, as after all this is the final Tribe album which was completed in mourning over the unexpected death of Phife Dawg. The album ends A Tribe Called Quest’s chapter with the perfectly placed ‘The Donald’, which at a first glance ceold be an anti-anthem to the recent American president elect, but in fact it is a tribute to “Don Juice”, one of the many nicknames of Phife. The song starts with a verse from long-time collaborator Busta Rhymes, “Phife Dawg, you spit wicked every verse / Dem no say, respect the Trini man first”, eluding to Phife’s and Busta’s Caribbean heritage. Phife follows Busta with some fiery bars – “Phife Dawg legend, you could call me Don Juice / I'm the shit right now, what, you need to see proof? / … / Who wanna spa? Haha, well, here I are / Orthodox spitter or bring on the southpaw” – with Q-Tip’s closing verse signing off his legacy with a fitting tribute, “We gon' celebrate him, elevate him, papa had to levitate him / Give him his and don't debate him / Top dog is the way to rate him”.
The music to each track holds the same jazzy ideas and mellow experimentalism that you would expect from any Tribe album. Q-Tip, for the umpteenth time, has managed to sample yet another bizarre and exotic gem, using 'Ruido De Magia' by 70s Argentine band Invisible to create the delicious groove in ‘Dis Generation’. André 3000 and Q-Tip enjoy a glorious back-and-forth in ‘Kids’ which will make you long for a Tribe/Outkast crossover album. The beautifully smooth and soulful sounds in ‘Enough!!’ sees Q-Tip and Jarobi rhyme as the beat swings around Connan Mockasin-esque warping and sampled snippets of Rotary Connection’s ‘Memory Band’ (also heard on their 1990 hit ‘Bonita Applebum’). There is certainly no disappointment when it comes to the sound of the album. Even the long list of strange and wonderful guest features: Consequence, Jack White, Elton John, Marsga Ambrosius, Abbey Smith, Tabi Kweli, Kanye West, Katia Cadet, Anderson .Paak and Kendrick Lamar, all managed to fit perfectly into the Tribe mantra throughout.
We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service is a totally unexpected album, a fully re-formed A Tribe Called Quest returning against all odds and remaining at the top of their game. The group have produced an unbelievably fresh, significant and up-to-date record that will appease any classic Tribe fan. Sometimes the album drifts into the territory of Q-Tip’s solo material, with the production perhaps being a little too experimental at points, but that can all be forgiven once you hear the relevant and purposeful bars Tribe deliver in their now vintage way. The band have almost come full circle in their lifetime – when they started African Americans had to deal with the neglect of a Ronald Regan presidential administration, and now there is the uncertainty the Donald Trump era brings to minorities. However, their music has and will always have the same profound effect on any hip-hop fan out there.
Iain Lauder
Website: www.ATribeCalledQuest.com