A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest stood among the era’s most forward-thinking and essential hip-hop acts during the 1990s. They belonged to the Native Tongues collective alongside the Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, De La Soul, Monie Love, and Black Sheep, and the crew managed to merge thoughtful, introspective rhymes with lighthearted themes, addressing intimate matters and broader social concerns while still emphasizing enjoyment. Their production work proved equally innovative, opening fresh directions for the genre through imaginative sampling that drew on overlooked jazz sides from the 1960s and 1970s as well as bossa nova and progressive rock; in several instances they even brought in the original musicians whose names appeared on the album sleeves they mined for material. Across their initial five LPs—most notably the platinum-certified sequence of The Low End Theory (1991), Midnight Marauders (1993), and Beats, Rhymes and Life (1996)—they assembled one of the decade’s strongest bodies of work in any style. Following their 1998 breakup, the members returned to the stage six years later and maintained sporadic touring through the 2010s. Released in 2016, We Got It from Here...Thank You 4 Your Service marked their second Billboard 200 chart-topper and arrived several months after the passing of founding member Phife Dawg.

Although peers the Jungle Brothers did not coin the name A Tribe Called Quest until 1988, the lineup began forming three years earlier when Queens native Q-Tip, born Jonathan Davis, and Brooklynite Ali Shaheed Muhammad started laying down tracks using pause-tape production methods while still in high school. The pair later expanded into a quartet by inviting Q-Tip’s longtime friend Phife Dawg, born Malik Taylor, and neighbor Jarobi, whose full name is Jarobi White, to join, the latter serving on a part-time basis. Q-Tip’s earliest recorded appearance came on the Jungle Brothers’ 1988 release Straight Out the Jungle. The following year he appeared on De La Soul’s “Buddy,” and a subsequent “Buddy [Native Tongue Decision]” version also incorporated Phife. A Tribe Called Quest’s own first single, “Description of a Fool,” arrived later in 1989 on Jive after a rejected demo submission to Geffen. Their debut album, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, followed in April of the next year. Much like De La Soul, the group favored jazz and 1970s rock sources; the track “Can I Kick It?,” which climbed into the Billboard rap Top Ten after “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” and “Bonita Applebum,” lifted its bass line from Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” and demonstrated that such a sample could thrive in a hip-hop setting.

Despite the strength of that opening effort, the September 1991 follow-up The Low End Theory—issued after Jarobi left to attend culinary school—surpassed expectations and remains widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made. In addition to its dense collage of samples, the set featured jazz bassist Ron Carter on “Verses from the Abstract.” Three charting singles emerged, among them the rap-chart number one “Check the Rhime” and “Scenario,” which featured Leaders of the New School and a young Busta Rhymes and peaked at number six. Several songs paid tribute to fellow hip-hop artists, a spirit that carried into the third album, Midnight Marauders. Its artwork and booklet showcased more than seventy rap figures spanning both coasts, including members of De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, and Beastie Boys plus Ice-T and Too $hort. The project entered the Billboard 200 at number eight, then the group’s highest position, and contained further staples such as “Award Tour,” their sixth Top Ten rap single, along with a noticeably tougher sonic edge than the preceding records. Tribe joined the 1994 Lollapalooza bill, stayed relatively quiet the next year aside from Q-Tip’s outside productions, and returned in July 1996 with Beats, Rhymes and Life. The album prominently spotlighted Q-Tip’s cousin Consequence and production partner Jay Dee of Slum Village, who had recently worked on the Pharcyde’s Labcabincalifornia. It reached number one on the Billboard 200, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, and became the third consecutive platinum-certified release; the single “1nce Again” also received a Grammy nod in the rap category.

Prior to issuing what would be their fifth album, The Love Movement, the members declared it their last and announced an impending breakup. After the set debuted at number three and garnered another Best Rap Album Grammy nomination, each artist explored individual endeavors with differing results, yet the pull of the group repeatedly drew them back together. They headlined the 2004 Rock the Bells festival, toured extensively in 2006, appeared on the 2008 and 2010 Rock the Bells packages, and performed a run of shows in 2013 that included dates with Kanye West in New York. In November 2015 they regrouped for a Tonight Show appearance tied to the twenty-fifth-anniversary reissue of People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

Those post-Love Movement performances helped offset mounting medical costs for Phife, who had received a diabetes diagnosis in 1990 and later underwent multiple kidney transplants. He passed away at age 45 in March 2016 from complications tied to the illness. Later that year Q-Tip revealed that the group had finished a new album. On the evening of their 2015 Tonight Show performance the original four members had resolved to set aside past tensions and resume recording. Sessions took place in Q-Tip’s well-equipped home studio and welcomed contributions from Busta Rhymes, Elton John, Kendrick Lamar, and André 3000. Although Phife died before completion, Q-Tip finished the project. We Got It from Here...Thank You 4 Your Service appeared in November 2016, topped the Billboard 200, and was later certified gold. Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad each continued with separate musical work, and in 2022 A Tribe Called Quest received a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination.