A tribe called quest

Hello again Steemit !

Today I am going to talk about music again, and more particularly, Rap. I really want to introduce you to a group I love! They are called A Tribe Called Quest. They are some of my favorite rappers. If you don’t know them, go listen to them immediately. This is old school rap and more particularly jazz rap. Sometimes I enjoy listening to hardcore rap, but this group is not that, nor is it like modern hip-hop, they are the pioneers of a new style. They are real hip-hop legends even if they are not as well known by the actual generations.

History of this group

A Tribe Called Quest was formed in 1985, yes that is a long way back. It was originally composed of MC Q-tip, MC Phife Dawg, DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad and MC Jarobi White. Jarobi White left the group in 1991 in order to become a chef. He kept on doing some music but a very low amount of it.

A tribe called quest was part and cofounder of the collective Native Tongues including other groups like De La Soul. The collective was formed in 1988 of like-minded artists who would bring open-minded and abstract lyricism to the industry. As said before, they are pioneers of a new genre within Rap which is conscious hip-hop, jazz rap and most importantly, alternative Hip-Hop. The Native Tongues collective later included very famous artists such as Common, The Roots, Mos Def. This collective was still present until 2011. Some very famous artists collaborated with Native Tongues and some famous songs came out such as "Get By (Remix)" by Talib Kweli featuring Mos Def, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, and Kanye West.

A Tribe Called Quest released six albums from 1990 to 1998. Afterwards, they decided to part ways. They reunited in 2006 and released their last album in 2016. The album features guest appearances from André 3000, Kendrick Lamar, Jack White, Elton John, Kanye West, Anderson Paak, Talib Kweli, and the group's most frequent collaborators Consequence and Busta Rhymes. This might help you understand how respected they are by the other artists. However, Phife Dawg died before the album was released, this added very strong feels to the album.

A Tribe Called Quest got sampled (it means that their music was used in other songs by other artists) by very famous artists such as Jay-Z, The pharcyde, Gang Starr, Robbie Williams, Gorillaz, Fugees, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and many more. This shows just how much of an influence they were.

My opinion

What do I love about this band? Well, first of all, this band was very influential in the world of rap and in the world of music in a whole. I respect the fact that they stand for something, they have some very fun musics but they also have some meaningfull ones. The 90's are famous for the gangster rap but this genre with A Tribe Called Quest and other bands like De La Soul pushed a far more positive feel to rap.

The mix of rap and jazz works very well and made me go further that way, because of this group, I started listen to more music like this or similar in some ways.

I really enjoy their positivity, as I love very dark music such as good old Eminem (Slim Shady), Earl Sweatshirt, Immortal Technique, it feels good to listen to something different and a lot more positive. For example, these lyrics represent well what their songs are usually about.
“Not every MC be with the negativity
We have a slew of rappers pushin' positivity”

My favorite song is "Scenario" and I really recommend you to check it out! However, this song might not represent this band the best as it is more punchy than other songs might be. A more representative one would be "Electric Relaxation".

I hope you will give it a try as it is a great group. More music-related posts will come in the future. :)