A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

The Low End Theory is still my favorite of A Tribe Called Quest's discography.

For years I wondered what rating the album got from The Source magazine and I found out almost a decade later they ranked it one of hip hop's best.  



The album came at the end of the Afrocentric phase and presented the direction East Coast hip hop was going. 

The album contains Scenario, hip hop's greatest posse cut. Check the Rhime, Butter, Show Business and Jazz (We Got) are all waiting for you once you place the cassette, CD or vinyl in your sound system.

Speaking of those soon to be or already extinct media, I discovered that the track listing for each media changed from one to another. The tape order is different from the vinyl, the vinyl is different from the CD and the CD is different from the tape and vinyl. This once again is characteristic of the legendary and mysterious A Tribe Called Quest. They would repeat that element of surprise on Midnight Marauders where the photo order is different from one media to another.

The video for Jazz (We Got)/Buggin' Out is dangerously close to being my favorite hip hop video of all-time. 

A Tribe Called Quest was a pivotal crew that molded my musical knowledge and expectations of hip hop for years to come.

A Tribe Called Quest molded my musical knowledge and expectations of hip hop.

The group managed to distinguish themselves from De La Soul by being monumental to hip hop on their own terms.



The Low End Theory is still my favorite of A Tribe Called Quest’s discography.

I forget which of Tribe's albums got classic status in The Source Magazine, but I give it to The Low End Theory.

This album came at the end of the Afrocentric phase and presented the direction East Coast hip hop was going.



Scenario is hip hop's greatest posse cut.

I discovered that the track listing for each format varied from one to the other. The audio cassette order is different from the vinyl, the vinyl is different from the CD and the CD is different from the tape and vinyl. This once again is characteristic of the legendary and mysterious A Tribe Called Quest.



They would repeat that element of surprise on Midnight Marauders where the photo order is different from one format to another.

The Jazz (We Got)/Buggin' Out video is possibly still my favorite hip hop video of all time.

 

New Balance

To this day, the New Balance model 574 shoes are the most comfortable I've ever worn in my life.

I distinctly remember seeing Phife Dawg wore New Balance shoes in a photo on the first A Tribe Called Quest album.

I had another sneaker brand on my mind so I paid New Balance no mind until nearly a decade later.

I bought a pair in New York, of all places in downtown Brooklyn, and couldn't believe how comfortable they were.

They were so comfortable that I wore them all-year round until they lost their lustre. Even when the time came to chuck them, I was reluctant to do so because I wasn't guaranteed that kind of comfort from my next pair of sneakers unless they too were New Balance. 

As I am on the verge of putting another pair of kicks to pasture, I'm happy to know that I can find New Balance in my hometown. 

Tribute To J Dilla

When I learned about the fire that destroyed Q-Tip's record collection, I realized the magic of future A Tribe Called Quest albums was in jeopardy. In my mind, how could Q-Tip outsource production of some of the most important music in hip hop history to the Ummah? Who and what is Ummah? When I heard Dilla's drum beats later on and recognized them as the sound from Beats, Rhymes & Life, I then had someone to lay blame on. That was until I heard and fell in love with Slum Village's Fall In Love.

The mark of classic, timeless material is that you can revisit it at a later date and discover new dimensions and information you were not aware prior. I was listening to a Dilla tribute and heard one of the Donuts for the first time in years since buying the CD. It was the one with the sample of When I Die. It had not occured to me, or maybe I overlooked the fact, that he compiled Donuts before he died. Using that sample was more than appropriate. It was prophetic.

I think about the grand scheme of things especially when I can't understand why good people go too soon before what I think is their time or when tragedy strikes. Had it not been for that fire or Q-Tip even working with Dilla, there might not be a legend of J Dilla for us to speak of, listen to, write about or mourn today. That's divine intervention if I ever came close to understanding it.

For those that don't know, Donuts is not a conventional, traditional beats & rhymes hip hop album. There are no rhymes on Donuts. This is J Dilla left to his own devices before he died. The album is symbolically the last will and testament of one of hip hop’s most talented to the culture. Even non-hip hop heads reach for the album or aim to add it to their crates.


His death still impacts hip hop today. J Dilla could have possibly been one to save hip hop or at least resurrect it. With my knowledge of his importance to hip hop, I paid tribute to him on the anniversary of his death.  

R.I.P.  J Dilla

Below are some playlists to bring you up to speed.

  

Check out the player below as well as here.

The Suite Delight - February 2, 2015 Playlist:

1. J Dilla – Don’t Cry
2. J Dilla – 100,000 Watts
3. J Dilla – Lightworks
4. Mobb Deep ‎ – Hoodlum Featuring  Big Noyd & Rakim
5. Mobb Deep   ‎– Hell On Earth
6. Reflection Eternal - Fortified Live (Sensitive Ears Version)
7. Lootpack - Crate Diggin'
8. Lootpack - Long Awaited feat. Dilated Peoples
9. Diamond D - Only Way 2 Go feat. Pete Rock
10. Brand Nubian - Slow Down (Pete Rock's Newromix)
11. Slum Village - Jealousy
12. Jay Dee - Say How I Feel (Remix) feat. Rhian Benson, Slum Village & Dwele
13. Buff1 - Never Fall feat. Black Milk
14. Elzhi - Motown 25 feat. Royce da 5'9"
15. Camp Lo - Say Word feat.  Jungle Brown
16. Aesop Rock - Limelighter feat. Camp Lo

The Suite Delight - 2014- 05-27 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - May 27, 2014 Playlist:

1. Quantic & Anita Tijoux - Doo Wop (That Thing)
2. Sola Rosa - Turn Around Ft. Iva Lamkum (DJ Vadim Remix)
3. The Seatbelts - Cat Blues (Mr. Scruff Remix)
4. James Brown - Funky Drummer
5. The Cactus Channel - Wooden Boy (Part 1)
6. The Roots – Don't Feel Right feat. Maimouna Youssef
7. J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) - Love Movin' feat. Black Thought
8. Nas - It Ain't Hard to Tell
9. Termanology - How We Rock Feat. Bun B
10. Marco Polo - Lay It Down Feat. Roc Marciano
11. Buff1 - Never Fall feat. Black Milk
12. The Extremities - New Season feat. Ohmega Watts & Moka Only
13. Lords Of The Underground - Tic Toc (Remix)
14. Lone Catalysts - The Ultimate (Kev Brown Remix)

The Suite Delight - February 25, 2014 (2) Playlist:

1. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Large Professor Remix)
2. Diverse - Uprock
3. Jay Dee - Pause feat. Frank-N-Dank
4. Strong Arm Steady - Questions
5. Souls of Mischief - That's When Ya Lost (Remix)
6. Soul Khan - Knuckle Puck
7. Quasimoto - Rappcats, Pt. 3
8. Supastition - Yada Yada
9. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs Day
10. Mobb Deep - Win or Lose
11. Wale - Um'Ricka feat. K'Naan
12. K-Solo - Letterman (Pete Rock Remix)
13. The Extremities - Cold Cheese
14. D-Sisive x Tone Mason – Maybe I Will feat. DJ Grouch

The Suite Delight - January 14, 2014 (2):

1.       Robert Glasper Experiment - Perservere feat. Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco & Luke James

2.       Outkast - Prototype

3.       Shad - He Say She Say

4.       A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebaum

5.       Keith Murray - Get Lifted (Erick Sermon Remix)

6.       Theophilus London - Life of a Lover (Remix) feat. Blu & Jesse Boykins III

7.       Edo G - Righteous Way

8.       Donovan - Get Thy Bearings

9.       Rare Earth - Born To Wander

10.   Minnie Riperton - Reasons

11.   Clarence Carter - Patches

12.   Roy Ayers Ubiquity - The Memory

13.   Easy Star All Stars - Time (Groove Corporation Remix)

14.   Elaquent - The Official

15.   J Dilla - Last Donut of the Night