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Today in Hip-Hop History: A Tribe Called Quest Dropped Their Sophomore LP ‘Low End Theory’ 31 Years Ago
On this date in 1991, Queens emcees Q-Tip, and the late Phife Dawg, along with their DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad, formally known as A Tribe Called Quest, released the group’s second full-length studio album Low End Theory.
The sophomore jinx did not come into play with this project from Tribe, with both Tip and Phife’s rhyme quality better than anything heard from them before. With the Abstract quarterbacking most of the production on the project, with the co-production assistance from Mr. Muhammad and Skeff Amslem, the result is a creative masterpiece. It must also be mentioned that the real-life issues were affecting the group. Phife announced he had diabetes, to firing the World Famous DJ Red Alert as the group’s manager proved that the Tribe was ready for the next level of their career.
As for the album’s highlights, Low End Theory is one of the genre’s conceptual albums that cannot be understood unless listened to in its entirety. From the album’s beginning on “Excursions,” which would cause the average Tribe fan to anticipate the sound of a People’s Instinctive Travels Part 2 until you hear the bass line come in for “Buggin’ Out,” which was possibly the best lyrical showing by Phife on all of ATCQ’s albums. While songs like “Rap Promoter” and “Show Business” talk about the uncertainty of the Hip-Hop industry, tracks like “The Infamous Date Rape” and “Everything Is Fair” talk about social issues that plague urban communities.
Supreme salute to the Tribe, rest in peace to Phife and the Jive Records squad for helping to bring the people such an essential piece of Hip-Hop history 31 years ago.
The post Today in Hip-Hop History: A Tribe Called Quest Dropped Their Sophomore LP ‘Low End Theory’ 31 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.
Pharrell’s Something In The Water Festival Special Guests Include Clipse, Justin Timberlake, And More
When Pharrell Williams announced the lineup for his upcoming Something In The Water Festival back in April, the flyer touted that he’d be joined by some “phriends” and “some people we can’t announce.” Now, with the festival’s Juneteenth weekend dates looming on the calendar, Pharrell apparently can announce just who his “phriends” are — and while they’re certainly exciting, they’re hardly surprising. Pharrell will be joined by a who’s-who of his former (and current) collaborators, including Clipse, Justin Timberlake, NORE, Q-Tip, SZA, and more.
Of course, Clipse, JT, and NORE are obvious picks. As part of The Neptunes with Chad Hugo, Pharrell had a hand in some of those acts’ biggest hits of the 2000s, including Clipse’s breakout single “Grindin’” and their first album, Lord Willin’, Justin Timberlake’s solo debut Justified, which included bangers like “Senorita,” “Rock Your Body” and “Like I Love You,” and NORE’s “Superthug” and “Nothin’.” Meanwhile, Q-Tip was always a production mentor of Pharrell’s, and Pharrell was even in an A Tribe Called Quest-inspired rap trio with Timbaland and Magoo in 1991 called Surrounded By Idiots (some of their demos are floating around the internet to this day and are worth a listen). And of course, Pharrell produced SZA’s fan-favorite CTRL cut “Supermodel.”
The rest of the festival’s roster is absolutely stacked as well; you can check that out below and get more info on Something In The Water here.
Today in Hip Hop History: Nas Released His Iconic ‘Illmatic’ Album 28 Years Ago
28 years ago today, Nas dropped his debut LP ‘Illmatic‘. Released by Columbia Records in 94’ Nas recorded the album at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios in New York City. Produced by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Nas himself; the bangers on the album will be embedded in Hip Hop culture as classics merely based upon its production alone.
The album sold 60,000 in the first week and debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200 chart. On January 17, 1996, the album was certified gold by the RIAA in 2001 it earned a platinum certification after shipping 1,000,000 copies in the United States alone.
Lyrically, Nas delivered street certified verses on ‘Illmatic‘ that influenced the majority of the 90’s and is regarded as one of the greatest LP’s of all time by critics and major publications globally.
The post Today in Hip Hop History: Nas Released His Iconic ‘Illmatic’ Album 28 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.
Jack White Reflects on Working With Jay-Z, Suggests Unreleased Music Could ‘See the Light of Day’
LL Cool J Revives Rock The Bells Festival And Explains Why Bars Matter ‘More Than Ever Before’ In Hip-Hop
It’s a complaint you hear more than ever these days: Hip-hop has lost its way and it isn’t about the bars anymore. Of course, that depends on who you ask. While some veterans of the rap game certainly lament that things aren’t the same, one of the culture’s most iconic figures is taking a different view. In a new interview with Billboard about his upcoming, Q-Tip-produced, Def Jam-backed 14th album, LL Cool J explained why he thinks bars matter “more than ever” in hip-hop today.
“[Bars matter] more than ever because every Snapchat, every TikTok, Instagram photo or every tweet is words,” he observes. “People love words. You have to be precise with your speech nowadays. Words are more important now than they ever been probably because the whole world is living in a giant transcript. If you’re going to say something, it has to mean something.”
The rap luminary also relates this concept to his own upcoming project, saying, “The songs that I wrote on the new record that’s coming have meaning. It’s coming from a whole other place. I think that it’ll hopefully touch people in a way that they can’t ever imagine. I don’t even think people can imagine or understand what this is.” Of his executive producer, he offers high praise; “I think [Q-Tip] quarterbacked a masterpiece, b,” LL says.
The “Rock The Bells” rapper also talks about revitalizing the defunct music festival named for his 1985 hit. The festival will return under LL’s banner (also called Rock The Bells media) on August 6, bringing such iconic acts as Ice Cube, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and more to Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in LL’s native Queens, New York. “The energy and the goal has always been to elevate hip-hop culture and classic hip-hop culture and not allow all of these talented artists that we have be pushed to the sidelines just because at the current moment they might not have a song at the top of the Billboard charts,” he says of his Rock The Bells media venture. “That doesn’t mean that they’re not valuable. I found that so many people want this. [Fans] want to celebrate the culture, but they want it done in the right way. So the same way that The Stones get treated, Paul McCartney gets treated, and Bob Dylan gets treated, I wanted to see these artists treated that way.”
.@llcoolj is bringing Rock The Bells festival to Queens on August 6th. It’s going to be a MOVIE
#RTBFestival pic.twitter.com/ie5qW6yyaq
— Def Jam Recordings (@defjam) April 4, 2022
Jack White And Q-Tip Collaborate On A Haunting New Track, ‘Hi-De-Ho’
Ahead of his upcoming double album release, Jack White has released a new collaboration with A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip. On “Hi-De-Ho,” White channels Cab Calloway by way of a sample of his song “Hi-De-Ho Man.” White and Q-Tip both scat over a haunting drum beat with samples of saxophones throughout.
White heard Calloway’s original version on the radio and decided to sample it and compose a bass line for his version. White then sent his track to Q-Tip, who, within minutes, sent back a version with his vocals.
“I love synthesizing different moments, different areas of music, different time periods,” White said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “The best part about it all is everybody I played to kept thinking that Cab Calloway was me. And I thought, ‘No, it’s obviously not me. Do I actually sound like that?’ So that was bizarre. ”
“Hi-De-Ho” marks the second collaboration between Jack White and Q-Tip, the first being “Solid Wall Of Sound” from A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got It From Here…Thank You For Your Service.
White will release Fear Of The Dawn, the first of two albums he has planned for this year, in April. The second album, Entering Heaven Alive, is set for release in June. “Hi-De-Do” will be on Fear Of The Dawn‘s tracklist and another new single, “Queen Of The Bees,” will be featured on Entering Heaven Alive.
Check out “Hi-De-Ho” above and “Queen Of The Bees” below.
Fear Of The Dawn is out 4/8/2022 via Third Man Records. Pre-order it here.
Entering Heaven Alive is out 7/22/2022 via Third Man Records. Pre-order it here.
Q-Tip Wishes One Thing About A Tribe Called Quest’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Nomination Was Different
On Wednesday, the nominees for the 2022 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction class were announced and some hip-hop icons made the cut, including Eminem, Rage Against The Machine, and A Tribe Called Quest. Now, Tribe’s Q-Tip has spoken about the nomination, revealing that he’s happy about it but indicating that it’s a bittersweet moment for him.
In an interview with Billboard the day after the nominations were revealed, Q-Tip said, “I was pleased, [but] I wish my man [Phife Dawg] was here.”
Phife Dawg, a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, died in 2016 at 45 years old.
Elsewhere during the conversation, Q-Tip spoke about how he believes A Tribe Called Quest helped bridge the gap between rock and hip-hop for many people, especially white listeners. He said, “I was just saying to LL Cool J the thing about Tribe is we played in front of more rock audiences than rap audiences. Just being on tour with Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Green Day, Beastie Boys, and our first show we opened for Big Audio Dynamite — at our time, we kinda helped bring white audiences to hip-hop. So it’s overall good. I feel like the story of music and music’s evolution can’t happen without hip-hop artists.”
Check out the full interview here.