American hip hop group
A Tribe Called Quest
was an American
hip hop
group formed in
Queens
,
New York City
, in 1985,
[4]
[5]
[2]
originally composed of rapper and main producer
Q-Tip
,
[6]
rapper
Phife Dawg
, DJ and co-producer
Ali Shaheed Muhammad
, and rapper
Jarobi White
. The group is regarded as a pioneer of
alternative hip hop
and
merging jazz with hip hop
, influencing numerous hip hop and
R&B
musicians.
[7]
[8]
[9]
A Tribe Called Quest came to prominence as members of the
Native Tongues
collective, which they co-founded in 1988. The group's debut album,
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
(1990), established them as a critically acclaimed act, earning the first
five 'mic'
rating in
The Source
'
s history.
[10]
[8]
In 1991, the group saw commercial success with its jazz-infused second album,
The Low End Theory
, which heavily shaped alternative hip hop in the 1990s.
[11]
It was followed by the similarly successful and influential
Midnight Marauders
(1993), and
Beats, Rhymes and Life
(1996), which topped the
Billboard
200
. In 1998, the group disbanded shortly before releasing its fifth album
The Love Movement
, but in 2006, the original members reunited and toured sporadically for the next seven years. In 2016, the group released its sixth and final album,
We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
, which received critical acclaim and became its second album to top the
Billboard
200; it featured posthumous contributions from Phife Dawg, who died eight months before its release.
[12]
A Tribe Called Quest was the most commercially successful act in the Native Tongues, with all six of its albums certified either
gold or platinum
.
[13]
John Bush of
AllMusic
called them "the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s",
[14]
and Kris Ex of
Pitchfork
regarded them as "one of the greatest acts that hip-hop has ever produced".
[15]
In 2005, A Tribe Called Quest received the Founders Award at the
Billboard
R&B/Hip-Hop Awards,
[16]
and two years later, the group was honored at the
4th VH1 Hip Hop Honors
.
[17]
In 2017, the group was awarded the
Brit Award for International Group
. In 2024, A Tribe Called Quest was selected for induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
.
[18]
[19]
History
[
edit
]
1985?1990: Formation, Native Tongues, and
People's Instinctive Travels
[
edit
]
Q-Tip
(Kamaal Fareed) and
Phife Dawg
(Malik Taylor) were childhood friends who grew up together in the
St. Albans
neighborhood of
Queens
,
New York City
.
[5]
[20]
Initially, Q-Tip performed as a
battle rapper
, under the name MC Love Child, occasionally teaming up with
Murry Bergtraum High School
classmate
Ali Shaheed Muhammad
as a rapper and DJ duo.
[6]
[21]
In 1985, the duo began making demos over Q-Tip's pause
tape
beats.
[5]
Phife Dawg later joined them, though he didn't become a full member until neighborhood friend
Jarobi White
joined; the group dubbed themselves "Crush Connection" and later "Quest".
[17]
[22]
The group's final name, A Tribe Called Quest, was coined in 1988 by
Jungle Brothers
, who attended the same high school as Q-Tip and Muhammad; that year, Q-Tip made his first recorded appearances on Jungle Brothers' songs "Black Is Black" and "The Promo".
[5]
[14]
Shortly after, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers,
De La Soul
,
Queen Latifah
and
Monie Love
formed the
Native Tongues
collective, known for their like-minded
Afrocentrism
, positivity and eclectic
sampling
.
[23]
[24]
In 1989, Phife Dawg made his first recorded appearance on the song "Buddy (Native Tongue Decision)", the remix of De La Soul's single "
Buddy
".
[25]
A Tribe Called Quest hired
Kool DJ Red Alert
as their first manager.
[26]
In early 1989, the group signed a demo deal with
Geffen Records
and produced a five-song demo, which included future single "
I Left My Wallet in El Segundo
".
[27]
Geffen decided against offering the group a recording contract, and the group was granted permission to shop for a deal elsewhere.
[27]
After receiving lucrative offers for multi-album deals from a variety of labels, the group opted for a modest deal offered by
Jive Records
.
[27]
Jive was then known as an independent rap label that partly owed its success to building the careers of artists
Boogie Down Productions
and
Too Short
. Later that year, the group released their first
12" single
, "Description of a Fool".
[20]
Their debut album,
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
, released on April 10, 1990,
[20]
was marked by a playful lyrical approach and light-hearted content such as safe sex, vegetarianism and youthful experiences.
[28]
The music was an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, soul and rock samples.
[4]
The album was met with critical acclaim;
The Source
rated it
five mics
, becoming the first album to receive the magazine's highest rating.
[10]
NME
'
s review stated that "This is not rap, it's near perfection."
[29]
The album only gained momentum after the release of the singles "
Bonita Applebum
" and "
Can I Kick It?
", eventually achieving
gold
certification in 1996.
[20]
[30]
1991?1993:
The Low End Theory
,
Midnight Marauders
, and commercial success
[
edit
]
A Tribe Called Quest's second album,
The Low End Theory
, was released on September 24, 1991, with "
Check the Rhime
" as the lead single; the song largely established the lyrical interplay between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg.
[20]
[31]
Until then, most of the group's songs had only featured vocals by Q-Tip, but Q-Tip encouraged Phife Dawg to increase his participation despite his recent
diabetes
diagnosis.
[17]
Musically, the album fused hip hop with the laid-back atmosphere of jazz, particularly
bebop
and
hard bop
, combined with a minimalist approach to production that stripped the sound down to vocals, drums and bass.
[5]
[32]
Mixing engineer
Bob Power
played a major role on the album, as he was tasked with removing surface noise and static that is typically heard on hip hop songs sampled from old vinyl records.
[33]
During the recording sessions, White left the group to pursue a career in
culinary arts
, and they hired
Chris Lighty
as their new manager after signing to
Rush Artist Management
.
[22]
[34]
Lyrically, the group focused on a range of social issues, from
date rape
("The Infamous Date Rape") to
consumerism
("Skypager"), while also criticizing the hip hop industry on several songs.
[20]
Guests on the album included
Leaders of the New School
,
Brand Nubian
,
Vinia Mojica
and
Ron Carter
, who played
double bass
on the song "Verses from the Abstract". Additional singles included "
Jazz (We've Got)
" and "
Scenario
"; a live performance of "Scenario" with Leaders of the New School on
The Arsenio Hall Show
led to greater popularity.
[35]
Leaders member
Busta Rhymes
attracted attention with his verse in the song, which led to him launching a successful solo career.
[31]
The Low End Theory
received widespread acclaim from critics.
[22]
The Source
gave the group its second consecutive five mic rating, praising their "progressive sound" and "streetwise edge", also noting that "Those who questioned Phife's microphone techniques on the first album will swallow those doubts as he practically steals the show on this one."
[36]
The album peaked at #45 on the
Billboard
200
and was certified gold on February 19, 1992; it reached
platinum
status by 1995.
[31]
In the aftermath of their success, the group contributed the song "
Hot Sex
" to
the soundtrack
for the film
Boomerang
in 1992.
[37]
Conrad Tillard
, then known variously as the Hip Hop Minister and Conrad Muhammad, became a fixture in hip-hop in 1993 after he arranged a meeting and a truce in a feud between rising bands
Wreckx-N-Effect
and A Tribe Called Quest, that Tillard said threatened to turn
Harlem
into a "war zone".
[38]
[39]
[40]
[41]
[42]
[43]
A Tribe Called Quest released their third album,
Midnight Marauders
, on November 9, 1993.
[44]
The lead single, "
Award Tour
", became the group's highest charting single and helped to land the album at #8 on the
Billboard
200.
[31]
The production, still rooted in jazz, was a return to the eclectic sounds found on
People's Instinctive Travels
, with a more prominent funk influence, including grittier drums.
[44]
[5]
The voice of a "tour guide", on the intro and at the end of several tracks, added further cohesion to the album.
[31]
Midnight Marauders
saw improved lyrical interplay between Phife Dawg and Q-Tip,
[44]
as evidenced on the singles "
Electric Relaxation
" and "
Oh My God
"; the popularity of "Electric Relaxation" led to it becoming the opening theme song for the sitcom
The Wayans Bros.
, from 1995 to 1996.
[45]
Topics on the album include police harassment ("Midnight"), religious faith ("God Lives Through"), hip hop ("We Can Get Down") and use of the word
nigga
("Sucka Nigga").
[44]
Guests on the album include
Large Professor
, Busta Rhymes and
Raphael Saadiq
(credited as Raphael Wiggins).
The album received widespread acclaim from critics.
[22]
Entertainment Weekly
called the album "as fresh as their first",
[46]
while
Melody Maker
stated "A Tribe Called Quest have expanded their vision with a lyrical gravitas and a musical lightness of touch that has hitherto eluded them across a whole album".
[46]
The album was ranked #21 by
The Village Voice
in that year's
Pazz & Jop
critics' poll.
[46]
Midnight Marauders
became A Tribe Called Quest's fastest-selling album; it was certified platinum on January 11, 1995, only 14 months after its release.
[31]
1994?1995: Intermission and the Ummah
[
edit
]
At the
1994 Source Awards
,
Tupac Shakur
and his group
Thug Life
performed their song "Out on Bail", interrupting A Tribe Called Quest as they accepted the award for Group of the Year; it was later found that this apparent act of disrespect was accidental.
[24]
[47]
That summer, the group performed as one of a handful of hip hop acts on the
Lollapalooza
tour, among acts such as
The Smashing Pumpkins
,
Stereolab
and
The Verve
.
[48]
While on tour, keyboardist
Amp Fiddler
introduced Q-Tip to a young producer from
Detroit
named
Jay Dee
.
[5]
At the suggestion of Q-Tip, Jay Dee later joined him and Muhammad, forming a production unit known as
The Ummah
(
Arabic
for "the [worldwide]
Muslim
community"), in which each member produced songs individually and received a songwriting credit for their work.
[6]
The Ummah handled the production of A Tribe Called Quest's next two albums.
During this period, group members contributed to several notable outside projects with production and guest verses. Phife Dawg, who rapped on "Oh My God" that he owned "more condoms than
TLC
", made an appearance on the song "Intro-lude" from that group's album,
CrazySexyCool
, in 1994.
[49]
That year, Q-Tip produced the single "
One Love
" from
Nas
' debut album
Illmatic
and appeared on the song "
Get It Together
" by
Beastie Boys
, from their album
Ill Communication
.
[5]
In 1995, Muhammad co-produced the single "
Brown Sugar
" from
D'Angelo
's debut
album of the same name
, and Q-Tip produced three songs for
Mobb Deep
while serving as a mixing engineer for their album
The Infamous
.
[50]
The group contributed "Glamour and Glitz" to
The Show: The Soundtrack
that year, before returning the following year with their next album.
1996?1998:
Beats, Rhymes and Life
,
The Love Movement
, and breakup
[
edit
]
Beats, Rhymes and Life
, the group's fourth album, was released on July 30, 1996, supported by the singles "
1nce Again
" and "
Stressed Out
". It was recorded during the turbulent
East Coast?West Coast hip hop rivalry
, with the tracks "Get a Hold", "Keeping It Moving" and "Baby Phife's Return" referring to it.
[51]
The Ummah's production style, a minimalist R&B and jazz-infused sound, was a departure from the group's previous albums.
[52]
Jay Dee, a big fan of A Tribe Called Quest, contributed five beats to the album, including both singles.
[5]
Lyrically, the album featured a less playful, more philosophical approach by the group.
[24]
Consequence
, Q-Tip's cousin, and an aspiring rapper, was present on six songs.
[52]
Phife Dawg later stated that this period was when he began to lose interest in the group:
I really felt like with
Midnight Marauders
I came into my own. By the time when
Beats, Rhymes and Life
came out I started feelin' like I didn't fit in any more. Q-Tip and Ali had converted to
Islam
and I didn't. Music felt like a job; like I was just doin' it to pay bills. I never want my music to feel like just a job. They would schedule studio time at the last minute. I'd catch a plane from
Atlanta
to be in New York and when I got to the studio, no one would be there. They would have canceled the session without telling me. Seemed like the management was concerned with other folks not me. But I never lost my confidence.
[53]
The album debuted at #1 on the
Billboard
200 and went gold before the end of the year; it was certified platinum in 1998.
[54]
Critical reception was divided, but mostly positive;
Rolling Stone
called the album "near-flawless",
[55]
while
The Source
awarded it four mics.
[56]
Melody Maker
felt that it provided "both their best and worst thus far".
[55]
It was nominated for
Best Rap Album
and "1nce Again" was nominated for
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
at the
1997 Grammy Awards
.
[14]
In 1997, the group was featured on the
Fugees
single "
Rumble in the Jungle
", alongside Busta Rhymes and
John Forte
, from the
When We Were Kings
soundtrack.
[57]
They also appeared on the soundtrack
Men in Black: The Album
, with the song "Same Ol' Thing". In Europe, they released
The Jam EP
, which included the aforementioned song, "Mardi Gras at Midnight" (featuring
Rah Digga
) and two songs from
Beats, Rhymes and Life
, "Get a Hold" and "Jam".
[58]
That year also saw the first reunion of the three Native Tongues groups since 1989, when Jungle Brothers invited A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul to guest on "How Ya Want It We Got It", a song from their album
Raw Deluxe
.
[17]
A month before
The Love Movement
was released on September 29, 1998, the group announced that it would be their final album.
[14]
[22]
The group cited their frustration with Jive as a significant factor in the breakup.
[17]
The album, which was centered on the theme of love, was promoted by the single "
Find a Way
", a song that "innocently wonders about the point at which friendship spills over into sex".
[59]
Musically, the album saw the return of The Ummah's stripped-down production style from
Beats, Rhymes and Life
.
[60]
Guest appearances by Busta Rhymes,
Redman
and
Noreaga
helped to balance the subdued tone of the album.
[61]
The Love Movement
was certified gold on November 1, 1998, just over a month after its release.
[30]
Critical reception was mostly positive;
Rolling Stone
remarked that "the mature, accomplished niceness of
The Love Movement
proves that the Tribe still have the skills ? they're just short on thrills."
[61]
The album was nominated for Best Rap Album at the
1999 Grammy Awards
.
[62]
1999?2005: Solo projects and brief return to recording
[
edit
]
Under the management of
Violator
, Q-Tip launched a successful solo career, which saw two
Billboard
Hot 100
hits, "
Vivrant Thing
" and "
Breathe and Stop
", and the release of the gold-certified album
Amplified
in late 1999.
[17]
The album featured production by Q-Tip, Jay Dee and
DJ Scratch
. Despite receiving mostly positive reviews, the album was criticized by the hip hop community for its mainstream sound.
[5]
The most notable of Q-Tip's critics was Phife Dawg, who took his former partner to task on his solo album
Ventilation: Da LP
, released in 2000.
[17]
The
Hi-Tek
-produced lead single, "
Flawless
", contained the lines "Go 'head, play yourself with them ho-like hooks / sing ballads if it's all about the
Maxwell
look".
[17]
Ventilation
included production by Jay Dee and
Pete Rock
.
Teaming up with two other artists from former groups,
Raphael Saadiq
of
Tony! Toni! Tone!
and
Dawn Robinson
of
En Vogue
, Muhammad's next project was
Lucy Pearl
.
[17]
The group scored two hit singles with "
Dance Tonight
" and "
Don't Mess with My Man
", from their
self-titled album
, which was certified gold a few months after its release in 2000. Following a dispute between Saadiq and Robinson, the latter left the group and was replaced by
Joi
; however, this new incarnation would only last for the remainder of touring.
[17]
In 2001, Q-Tip changed directions and recorded
Kamaal the Abstract
, an album which saw him in the role of singer and bandleader.
[5]
Unlike his work with A Tribe Called Quest, or his previous solo work,
Kamaal
was constructed around live music and abstract song concepts.
Arista Records
refused to release the album, doubting its commercial potential, resulting in Q-Tip leaving the label.
[63]
The following year, he recorded the song "What Lies Beneath" for the
Soundbombing III
compilation, in which he responded to Phife Dawg's comments on "Flawless".
In 2003, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg put aside their differences and A Tribe Called Quest briefly returned to the studio, recording the song "I C U (Doin' It)", featuring
Erykah Badu
.
[17]
It was intended to be the first single from the Violator compilation,
V3: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
, however, the album was not released.
[64]
Undeterred by the shelving of
Kamaal the Abstract
, Q-Tip recorded
Open
in late 2003, planning to release it the next year.
[63]
[65]
It featured contributions from
Andre 3000
,
Common
and D'Angelo.
[17]
However, his label,
DreamWorks Records
, got bought out by
Universal Music Group
, which eventually led to
Open
also getting shelved.
[63]
On August 27, 2004, A Tribe Called Quest headlined the
Street Scene
music festival in
San Diego
.
[17]
Muhammad focused on developing a stable of artists, most of whom were showcased on his debut solo album,
Shaheedullah and Stereotypes
, released later that year. In 2005, the group received the Founders Award at the
Billboard
R&B/Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta.
[16]
2006?2013: Reunion and touring
[
edit
]
In 2006, the group reunited as a touring band, in part, to help Phife Dawg with his mounting medical expenses.
[22]
They co-headlined that year's
Bumbershoot
festival in Seattle and performed several sold-out concerts in the U.S., Canada and Japan. The group also appeared on the 2K Sports Bounce Tour, promoting the
NBA 2K7
video game, with a
Dan the Automator
remix of their song "Lyrics to Go" appearing on
the game's soundtrack
.
[17]
According to Phife Dawg at the time, A Tribe Called Quest planned to release an album, as they owed Jive one more in their six-album contract.
[22]
Speaking about the possibility of a new album showing up that year, Phife Dawg said:
Man, we was only 18?19 when we first got started. [When] we broke up we were still like 28. Now we are 35?36. It'd be real different being in the studio. It would be real interesting to see where Q-Tip is. It would all be on a much higher level. But we are all into such different stuff from way back then. We'd need at least a solid month to work on something. Trying to get all of us together for that much time ... I don't see that happening.
[53]
In 2007, A Tribe Called Quest was honored at the
4th VH1 Hip Hop Honors
, with a tribute performance by Busta Rhymes, Common,
Lupe Fiasco
and
Pharrell Williams
.
[66]
The group was named the headlining act for the 2008
Rock the Bells
tour.
[67]
That year, Phife Dawg received a
kidney transplant
from his wife.
[22]
In late 2008, Q-Tip released his long-awaited second album,
The Renaissance
, on
Universal Motown Records
.
[68]
After being shelved for seven years,
Kamaal the Abstract
was finally released in 2009, on
Battery Records
.
[6]
The group co-headlined the 2010 Rock the Bells tour. Phife Dawg planned to release his follow-up album,
Songs in the Key of Phife: Volume 1 (Cheryl's Big Son)
, that year; however, his health issues delayed the release of the album.
[69]
[22]
The group was the subject of the 2011 documentary,
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
, directed by
Michael Rapaport
.
[70]
In 2012, Q-Tip signed to
Kanye West
's
GOOD Music
label and prepared the release of his new album,
The Last Zulu
, which later became heavily delayed.
[5]
[71]
At the
2012 BET Hip Hop Awards
, the group took part in a tribute performance for former manager Chris Lighty, who had recently died.
[72]
In 2013, the group performed at a handful of select festivals throughout the summer, including
Yahoo! Wireless
in
London
,
[73]
Splash!
in Germany,
[74]
OpenAir Frauenfeld in Switzerland,
[75]
and H2O Music Festival in
Los Angeles
.
[76]
In November 2013, two of the four New York shows for West's
Yeezus Tour
featured A Tribe Called Quest as supporting acts.
[77]
According to statements made by Q-Tip at the time, these were intended to be A Tribe Called Quest's final performances.
[78]
2015?2017:
We Got It from Here
, death of Phife Dawg, and final tour
[
edit
]
On November 13, 2015, A Tribe Called Quest reunited to perform on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
.
[14]
That day, the group reissued
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
, in commemoration of its 25th anniversary.
[14]
The reissue included remixes by Pharrell Williams,
J. Cole
and
CeeLo Green
.
[79]
In addition, they participated in an
AMA
on
Reddit
, where users asked the group questions.
[80]
On the night of their
Tonight Show
appearance, the same night of the
terrorist attacks in Paris
, the group felt "charged" and put aside their differences, deciding to record a new album,
We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
, in secrecy.
[12]
Muhammad was unable to attend recording sessions for the album, as he was producing the
Luke Cage
soundtrack
with
Adrian Younge
at the time.
[81]
Phife Dawg died on March 22, 2016, due to complications relating to diabetes.
[82]
[83]
The album was incomplete when Phife Dawg died, but the surviving members continued to work on it following his death.
[12]
That August,
Epic Records
CEO
L.A. Reid
revealed that the label would be releasing a new A Tribe Called Quest album in the near future.
[84]
We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
was subsequently announced in October, with a release date of November 11, 2016; it became the group's second album to debut at #1 on the
Billboard
200.
[85]
[86]
The day after its release, the group appeared on
Saturday Night Live
and performed in front of a mural of Phife Dawg.
[87]
We Got It from Here
featured guest appearances by Andre 3000,
Kendrick Lamar
,
Jack White
,
Elton John
, Kanye West,
Anderson .Paak
,
Talib Kweli
, Consequence and Busta Rhymes.
[88]
Promoted by the hit single "
We the People....
", which opposed
Donald Trump
's
presidential campaign
, the album received widespread acclaim from critics.
[89]
Lyrically,
Rolling Stone
believed that the group "maintain the attitude of the Bohemian everydude funkonauts" that inspired many prominent hip hop artists.
[90]
AllMusic
praised the album's "visionary and pleasingly weird production", which drew from several different genres and sample sources.
[81]
Speaking with
Billboard
, Q-Tip revealed plans for the group to do a final world tour, to promote the album and honor Phife Dawg, before permanently disbanding.
[91]
It was also announced that a new Phife Dawg solo album,
Forever
, mostly completed before his death, would be released in the near future; the album was released in 2022.
[92]
[93]
On February 12, 2017, A Tribe Called Quest performed alongside Anderson .Paak, Busta Rhymes and Consequence at the
59th Annual Grammy Awards
.
[92]
Later that month, the group won the award for best
International Group
at the
2017 Brit Awards
.
[94]
On May 22, 2017,
We Got It from Here
achieved gold certification, making all six of the group's albums
RIAA
-certified.
[13]
The group performed at a number of festivals throughout the summer; they performed their final concert on September 9, 2017, at
Bestival
in
Dorset
, England.
[95]
After disbanding, a short film for the album's opening track, "
The Space Program
", was released on March 29, 2018, and billed as the group's final video.
[96]
Legacy
[
edit
]
AllMusic
critic John Bush called A Tribe Called Quest "without question the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s", further stating that the group "jump-started and perfected the hip-hop alternative to
hardcore
and
gangsta rap
."
[14]
At a time when
James Brown
drum breaks
and
P-Funk
basslines dominated
hip hop production
,
[9]
the group successfully bridged the gap between jazz and hip hop, incorporating
bebop
and
hard bop
samples and recording with double bassist
Ron Carter
.
[32]
[97]
The group's production influenced their contemporaries, thus changing the sound of hip hop;
Dr. Dre
produced his highly regarded debut
The Chronic
after being inspired by
The Low End Theory
,
[98]
and
Pete Rock
stated, "There were times when I would walk into a record store and see Tip sitting on the floor with his glasses on, going through albums, looking for beats ... I was like, 'This guy is serious.' Being around [the group] made me step up and become even more serious than I was."
[9]
Elton John
regarded them as "the seminal hip-hop band of all-time".
[99]
Lyrically, A Tribe Called Quest has been regarded for addressing many social issues through Q-Tip's philosophical viewpoints and Phife Dawg's everyman perspectives.
[14]
[9]
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
influenced several notable hip hop artists;
Scarface
asserted that it "really made me want to rap", and
Pharrell Williams
expressed that it was "the turning point [which] made me see that music was art."
[100]
[101]
Kierna Mayo
, former editor-in-chief of
Ebony
, said that
The Low End Theory
and
Midnight Marauders
"gave birth to
neo
-everything.... That entire class of
D'Angelo
,
Erykah Badu
,
Maxwell
, and
Lauryn Hill
?and moving on to
Andre 3000
,
Kanye West
, and
Talib Kweli
?everything that is
left
of everything begins with Tribe."
[9]
The group has also been credited for helping launch the solo careers of
Busta Rhymes
,
J Dilla
and
Consequence
.
[102]
[52]
The Roots
drummer
Ahmir Thompson
's stage name "Questlove" was inspired by A Tribe Called Quest, whom he cited as his favorite group, stating, "They're my
Beatles
."
[103]
[104]
The group's name serves as the inspiration for the name of
electronic music
group
A Tribe Called Red
, now known as The Halluci Nation.
[105]
In 2003,
The Low End Theory
was ranked 154th on
Rolling Stone
's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
.
[
citation needed
]
In a revised 2020 list, its ranking moved up to 43rd, and
Midnight Marauders
was added to the list at 201st.
[106]
[107]
The group's single "Can I Kick It?" was ranked 292nd on the 2021 revision of
Rolling Stone
's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
.
[108]
In 2022,
The Low End Theory
was selected by the
Library of Congress
for preservation in the
National Recording Registry
.
[109]
In 2024, A Tribe Called Quest were selected as inductees into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
.
[19]
Members
[
edit
]
- Q-Tip
? vocals, production (1985?1998, 2006?2013, 2015?2017)
- Phife Dawg
? vocals (1985?1998, 2006?2013, 2015?2016; died 2016)
- Ali Shaheed Muhammad
? turntables, co-production (1985?1998, 2006?2013, 2015?2017)
- Jarobi White
? vocals (1985?1991, 2006?2013, 2015?2017)
Discography
[
edit
]
Studio albums
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
Billboard
R&B/Hip-Hop Awards
[
edit
]
The Source
Awards
[
edit
]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Apparel collaborations
[
edit
]
- In celebration of
People's Instinctive Travels
'
25th anniversary in 2015,
Stussy
worked with A Tribe Called Quest to create a line featuring hats, sweaters and t-shirts of classic photos, lyrics and their iconic logo.
[113]
- Teaming up with longtime collaborator Pharrell Williams, the group partnered with
Billionaire Boys Club
to make "The Space Program" capsule in 2018.
[114]
- Paying tribute to the rap group,
Vans
made a line of footwear in 2018, in honor of their album artwork and lyrics.
[115]
- In 2022,
Peloton
announced a collaboration with A Tribe Called Quest, which included a line of apparel.
[116]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
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(2004). "Diatribe". In Cepeda, Raquel (ed.).
And It Don't Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years
. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 155.
ISBN
9781466810464
.
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a
b
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.
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2019
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.
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. November 14, 2015.
- ^
a
b
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.
L. Londell McMillan
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
Q-Tip
Red Bull Music Academy
. Accessed on January 4, 2019.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Exclusive: Q-Tip Interview
. MOOVMNT.com. Retrieved on June 25, 2017.
- ^
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.
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on December 6, 2015
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2014
.
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a
b
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.
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2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Gonzales, Michael A. (November 15, 2016).
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.
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a
b
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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"
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"
.
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ISSN
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.
OCLC
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.
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.
Highsnobiety.com
. November 24, 2018
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.
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. Retrieved
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2024
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Studio albums
| |
---|
Compilations
| |
---|
Solo albums
| |
---|
Singles
| |
---|
Other songs
| |
---|
See also
| |
---|
|
Awards for A Tribe Called Quest
|
---|
|
---|
Performers
|
- Mary J. Blige
- Cher
- Dave Matthews Band
(
Carter Beauford
,
Jeff Coffin
,
Stefan Lessard
,
Dave Matthews
,
LeRoi Moore
,
Tim Reynolds
,
Rashawn Ross
,
Boyd Tinsley
)
- Foreigner
(
Dennis Elliott
,
Ed Gagliardi
,
Lou Gramm
,
Al Greenwood
,
Mick Jones
,
Ian McDonald
,
Rick Wills
)
- Peter Frampton
- Kool & the Gang
(
Robert "Kool" Bell
,
Ronald Bell
, George Brown, Robert "Spike" Mickens,
Claydes Charles Smith
,
James "J.T." Taylor
,
Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas
, Ricky Westfield)
- Ozzy Osbourne
- A Tribe Called Quest
(
Ali Shaheed Muhammad
,
Phife Dawg
,
Q-Tip
,
Jarobi White
)
|
---|
Non-performers
(Ahmet Ertegun Award)
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Award for Musical Excellence
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Award for Musical Influence
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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