Download these albums. If you don't know "A Tribe Called Quest" you're crazy. These guys represent some of the biggest pillars in hiphop. Again, too many quotables to pick just one. Dudes is buggin'. I wish music was still like this. Watching the BET awards reminds me how sad music is at this day and age, when T-Pain had 11 #1 hits in a year, only two less than the beatles record.

ANYWAYS
these are my two favorite Tribe albums ever, and classics in Hip-Hop, check it oooouuuuuttt.You'd be foolish not to download this stuff. This is some of the calmest, most mello hip hop ever.

Even if Tribe never recorded a second album, they would still be regarded as Hip Hop royalty. Luckily, the group, which was now a trio, dropped, The Low End Theory. Tribe perfected the sound they were looking for on their second album. The beats are minimal but effective and Q-Tip and Phife really hit their lyrical prime on The Low End Theory.




It’s hard to break down this album track by track or to even pick out my favorite joints because it blends so perfectly together. “Excursions” lead off the album and after hearing this, you know you are in for an experience. The string bass provided by Ron Carter is infectious and you hear Q-Tip’s progression from the debut album. “Scenario” is a perfect posse song and we are introduced to Busta Rhymes. At the time people may not have known how much of a star Busta would become; thank you Q-Tip! The album now is in the midst of a stretch that may be unmatched, except by themselves. “Buggin Out”, “Rap Promoter”, “Butter”, “Verses From the Abstract”, “Vibes and Stuff” and “the Infamous Date Rape”. All are unique and strong in their own ways. Once again showing the subtle complexities incorporated within Tribe. And if these songs aren’t enough, we get hit with “Check the Rhime”. Minimalist beat with a catchy hook, sounds like an oxymoron but this is exactly what we encounter. “You on point Phife, all the time Tip/ You on point Phife, all the time Tip/ Well then grab the microphone and let your word rip“. Simple, yet so dope, and the phrase would be stuck in your head forever.




Though the abstract rappers finally betrayed a few commercial ambitions for Midnight Marauders, the happy result was a smart, hooky record that may not have furthered the jazz-rap fusions of The Low End Theory, but did merge Tribe-style intelligence and reflection with some of the most inviting grooves heard on any early-'90s rap record. The productions, more funky than jazzy, were tighter overall -- but the big improvement, four years after their debut, came with Q-Tip's and Phife Dawg's raps. Focused yet funky, polished but raw, the duo was practically telepathic on "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)" and "The Chase, Pt. 2," though the mammoth track here was the pop hit "Award Tour." A worldwide call-out record with a killer riff and a great pair of individual raps from the pair, it assured that Midnight Marauders would become A Tribe Called Quest's biggest seller. The album didn't feature as many topical tracks as Tribe was known for, though the group did include an excellent, sympathetic commentary on the question of that word ("Sucka Nigga," with a key phrase: "being as we use it as a term of endearment"). Most of the time, A Tribe Called Quest was indulging in impeccably produced, next-generation games of the dozens ("We Can Get Down," "Oh My God," "Lyrics to Go"), but also took the time to illustrate sensitivity and spirituality ("God Lives Through"). A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders was commercially successful, artistically adept, and lyrically inventive; the album cemented their status as alternative rap's prime sound merchants, authors of the most original style since the Bomb Squad first exploded on wax.