// Essential Listening

The Golden Age of hip-hop produced a plethora of great rap music, but few albums from that revered era have proven to be as eminent as A Tribe Called Quests exceptional 1991 LP. Produced primarily by Q-Tip, alongside increased participation from rapper Phife Dawg, the groups sophomore effort was an unmitigated triumph in the alternative rap scene. Coated witha mellow jazzy atmosphere derived from stripped-back hard bop and bebop samples, The LowEnd Theorys soulful grooves offered the ideal platform for Q-Tip and Phife Dawgs razor sharpverses, revelatory interplay, and socially conscious lyricism to shine.

Spirited and lyrically poetic, this transcendental album stands as testament to A Tribe Called Quests ability to capture the cultural and social zeitgeist through their sonic artistry.

While most of the players in the jazz-rap movement never quite escaped the pasted-on qualities of their vintage samples, with The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest created one of the closest and most brilliant fusions of jazz atmosphere and hip-hop attitude ever recorded.The rapping by Q-Tip and Phife Dawg could be the smoothest of any rap record ever heard; the pair are so in tune with each other, they sound like flip sides of the same personality, fluidly trading off on rhymes, with the former earning his nickname (the Abstract) and Phife concerning himself with the more concrete issues of being young, gifted, and black.

The trio also takes on the rap game with a pair of hard-hitting tracks: “Rap Promoter” and “Show Business,” the latter a lyrical soundclash with Q-Tip and Phife plus Brand Nubian’s Diamond D, Lord Jamar, and Sadat X. The woman problem gets investigated as well, on two realistic yet sensitive tracks, “Butter” and “The Infamous Date Rape.”The productions behind these tracks aren’t quite skeletal, but they’re certainly not complex. Instead, Tribe weaves little more than a stand-up bass (sampled or, on one track, jazz luminary Ron Carter) and crisp, live-sounding drum programs with a few deftly placed samples or electric keyboards. It’s a tribute to their unerring production sense that, with just those few tools, Tribe produced one of the best hip-hop albums in history, a record that sounds better with each listen. The Low End Theory is an unqualified success, the perfect marriage of intelligent, flowing raps to nuanced, groove-centered productions. via AllMusic

Label: Jive
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Repress
Reissued: 2023 / Original Release: 1991
Genre: Hip Hop
Style: Conscious, Jazzy Hip-Hop

File under: Hip Hop 90s