43. A Tribe Called Quest, "The Low End Theory"

 


I think I picked this up at one of the used record/CD shops on Haight after hearing it playing when I was browsing.  I wasn't a huge hip hop head but it was so instantly fascinating and intoxicating that I had to hear more.  I wish I knew where that CD was.  Anyway, what a blast it's been to revisit for the past 2 days, just listening to it over and over again.

This utterly brilliant album which, amazingly, came out in 1991, was one of the first "alternative hip hop" records and a pioneer in the jazz-rap genre, so much so that Tribe used famous jazz bassist Ron Carter to provide some of the low end of the title (actually a double entendre, low end referring both to the bass-heavy sound and the socioeconomic status of many African-Americans).  It's such a clean sounding album, a lot of it just that bass and drums and vocals, with some occasional samples.

The connection to jazz is made explicit on "Jazz (We've Got)," the second single from the album, which samples Jimmy McGriff's "Green Dolphin Street" (along with the Doors' "Light My Fire," believe it or not) and invites the listener to, you know, chill the fuck out:

If you're on a foreign path, then let me do the lead
Join in the essence of the cool-out breed
Then cool out to the music cause it makes you feel serene
With the birds and the bees and all those groovy things
Like getting stomach aches when you gotta go to work
Or staring into space when you're feeling berserk
I don't really mind if it's over your head
Cause the job of resurrectors is to wake up the dead

Love that last line.  Sharp-eared listeners will notice that the Beastie Boys lifted elements from this song for their own "Sure Shot" on Ill Communication.

"Buggin' Out" starts with a thundering bass sample from Jack DeJohnette, then Phife Dawg comes crashing in and this is where I should mention again, like the last time we saw Tribe, the dizzying number of pop culture references they can drop.  In Phife's first verse alone, he mentions: the Winans, Arsenio Hall, New Balance, and Dr. Pepper.  He trades verses with Q-Tip, no slouch on the mic himself, and they are obviously having a blast.

I would love to interview people born after 2000 about what they think "Skypager" is about:

Those who don't believe, see you're laid behind
Got our skypagers on all the time
Hurry up and get yours cause I got mine
Especially if you do shows, they come in fine

I love how they sampled the actual phone recording as part of the song, but whoops, what's this?  "Beeper's going off like Don Trump gets checks/Keep my bases loaded like the New York Mets."  Oh dear.

The record ends with "Scenario," which more or less made Busta Rhymes, who was then with Leaders of the New School and who drops an incredible verse, showing off that weird, wild voice that would make him famous.  Just a great track, great way to finish the record.

Is this album in my personal Top 100? No.

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