a tribe called quest reunion

^^ before you had status

this is terrific. "we the people" is a classic ATCQ track already after one listen. theres a Can sample somewhere on the album too

ah man Kendrick fits with Tribe so nicely........love his verse

he REALLY sounds like Mike Ladd to me on that verse - I even had to check it wasn't Mike.

Christgau:

As it was envisioned, this through-conceived meld of rhythm and voice, harmony and hook, ideas and feelings, life and death would have dawned upon us 11/9 as a collegial reminder in the spirit of its title: OK ma'am, the wolf has skulked away from the door, now let the people shape their destiny. Track one moans "The heat the heat the heat the heat" to signify climate change not law enforcement before it states its cross-racial political purposes with a forthright "It's time to go left and not right." And fundamentally, that was the idea. Of course the hour that ensues isn't uniformly ideological—this is music, their first in decades and their last ever, and music's impulses and necessities are their heart. But not their brain. With everybody home and Busta Rhymes moved into the guest room, the drama is all in reuniting seeker Q-Tip, whose long apprenticeship as a fusion musician finally yields some beats, and family man Phife Dog, who left this mortal plane in March but rhymes all the way to the final track. The album represents both their bond and the conscious black humanism they felt sure the nation was ready for: struggle yoked with work ethic, "forward movement" with "instinctual soul," "answer for cancer" with "learning is free," and damn right race-blind law enforcement. Hillary is a "woman with the wisdom who is leading the way," "The Donald"—Phife rhyming here, no later than March—all "Bloodclot you doing/Bullshit you spewing/As if the country ain't already ruined." The election didn't turn out like they figured. We know. But the music remains, urging us to love each other as much as we can as we achieve a happiness it's our duty to reaccess if we're to battle as all we can be. Its statement of principle didn't get the victory it foresaw. But it remains a triumph. A PLUS

For real

this is a 10/10 record, easily

is the vinyl going to be widely available or only thru the okayplayer site?

still playing this daily and being slayed by it daily

that's a really good xgau piece

turns out Midnight Marauders is more to my taste than TLET

That's a pretty standard opinion. Lots of fans cite Midnight Marauders as their favorite. (It's partially a generational thing; younger listeners seem to prefer MM)

Normally I'd say that two years isn't enough time to mark a generational divide, but there was a lot of movement in hip hop during those two years. Still, MM isn't The Chronic or Bacdafucup, and not a huge departure from the ATCQ albums before it, so hmm.

TLET/MM is basically The Godfather/The Godfather II

younger listeners like the computer voice on MM it makes them think of future

both are great

true sort of xp

and yeah, amazing discovery ty ilx

TLET/MM is basically The Godfather/The Godfather II

― ¶ (DJP), Monday, November 28, 2016 3:31 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya they are both great and arguments for either one are fun to engage in even if it doesn't matter which one is better

still haven't heard the new one. i should listen, even if im always skeptical about reunion albums

Low End Theory and MM came out practically back to back but Midnight Marauders feels like a much more social album imo; it's livelier and more extroverted than Low End Theory, which has kind of a reclusive quality to it. I prefer Low End Theory, but MM feels more like a party than a spoken word session, so it makes sense people gravitate toward it.

Genuinely jealous you get to dive into these albums for the first time imago.

marcos you will like this record

TLET was such an eye-opening record for me at just the right time that I will always rank it highest. MM was like a victory lap.

^^^

My relationship to ATCQ across the first three albums was "This is great, I should pay attention to these guys" -> "HOLY SHIT THIS IS THE GREATEST ALBUM I HAVE EVER HEARD" -> "HOLY SHIT THEY DIDN'T HAVE A LETDOWN AFTER RELEASING THE GREATEST ALBUM I'VE EVER HEARD"

(then it was "This is good but not on the same level as the first three" -> "I only can remember 2 songs on this but those two songs are fire" -> "HOLY SHIT HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT DECADES LATER THEY CAN BE THIS GOOD? RIP Pfife")

haha yes

Yep.

Which two songs on TLM? "Find a Way" is one of their greatest creations imo

That and "Start It Up"

it's really depressing to look at the list of albums released in september 1991 and realize which ones the 16 yr old me bought at the time instead of 'the low end theory'.

Psychotic Supper - Tesla
No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne
Use Your Illusion I - Guns N' Roses
Use Your Illusion II - Guns N' Roses
Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers

The bass on "Find a Way" is so massive. Such great Dilla beats all over that album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Us-4dzcY9A

crushing hard on this album rn tbrr

Didn't TLOT and Nevermind come out the same day? I remember buying both because I couldn't choose.

Also that day was Blood Sugar Sex Magick

Midnight Marauders and Enter The Wu-Tang came out on the same day in '93, which is crazy

CD arrived today after four days of download. This is magnificent. And making me want to go back and re-evaluate Kamaal The Abstract, which I never quite understood the bile towards, but also never quite got.

Is this CD's sound significantly better---?

lol I started trying to list my favourites on each album and ended up just listing basically everything smh

marcos you will like this record

― Οὖτις, Monday, November 28, 2016 4:10 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yea this is a great record

Off one listen to the cd, vs about 4 to the download, I reckon it's a bit different.

my favorites are becoming clear, but the shine's not really coming off this album in general. so great front to back.

otm

http://themartorialist.blogspot.be/2016/12/generic-list-post-stop-lyin-edition_5.html

that guy a) has the most enormous chip on his shoulder and b) is British and a probable DiS poster

AOTY this

"Bonita Applebum," which I included on a 100-favorite-songs list one, is brilliant. It and De La Soul's "Eye Know" and P.M. Dawn's "Reality Used to Be a Friend of Mine" are as surpassingly beautiful today as they were 25 years ago. And the photo of Michelle Obama holding the Tribe album when Phife Dawg died was pretty much the only thing that moved me in the thriving celebrity-obituary industry.

Found the new album for $8 today. Love "Black Spasmodic" (even though, if I'm hearing it right, it's about fake rappers, a subject that seems a little dated--lyrics don't matter much to me if a song sounds great). A couple of other songs caught my ear, and that's about it. Don't like "We the People" at all. Hope it will grow on me, but that doesn't often happen.

Did this album survive beyond the initial praise period? Nary a mention online after so many "Hosannas".

it's getting a lot of end of year love. it's in my top ten for sure.

Album of the year for me

in my top five and holding strong

are we not online????

yeah safe to say it wasn't just initial hype; this album is going to be remembered

My favorite album of the year, too.