Hip hop legends A Tribe Called Quest (Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip, Jarobi White) have returned after a long hiatus, the Paris bombings of 2015 (which happened the night of their appearance on The Tonight Show), and the death of Phife Dawg with perhaps the best rap album of the year – We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service. The two-disc album is loaded with guest stars like Andre 3000, Jack White, Elton John, Kendrick Lamar, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, and Busta Rhymes and is a great send-off for Phife (who named the album before his death). It’s a bit tough to hear Phife’s everyman flow knowing he’s left us, but he went out on a high note.
The album starts with “The Space Program,” which encourages all of us to “get it together to make somethin’ happen.” Smooth synth grooves and a looped Vincent Price laugh from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” back even smoother rhymes about the 99% of us looking out for each other while the 1% run away with everything. “We the People…” is a scathing rant against gentrification. “Guilty pleasures take the edge off reality,” Q-Tip says in a verbal backhand to all of us who bury our heads in our phones and TV screens to ignore the harsh reality for many around us.
“Whateva Will Be” starts with a Rudy Ray Moore sample (“Girl, this motherfucker’s got rhythm!”), so it’s an instant win, and a triple play when you add Phife’s flow and Muhammad’s killer cuts and beats. Speaking of killer cuts and beats, Muhammad gives a master class on “Solid Wall of Sound” as he twists, warps, and reforms Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets” (with Sir Elton playing and singing the classic track, no less) like it’s Play-Doh. He does it again on “Dis Generation,” sampling Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie” and some jazz guitar while Phife, White, Q-Tip, and Busta Rhymes move around the song with effortless flow.
“Kids…”, a song about the illusions we have as teenagers, and often continue to have as adults, starts with rhymes from Andre 3000 and sounds like an Outkast tune with its simple beats and distorted chorus (“Kids, don’t you know that all that shit is fantasy?”). “Melatonin” has a great funky swagger. “Enough!!” ends the first half of the album. While the title could be a summary for everyone’s feelings on 2016, it’s a bit of a slow jam seduction as the Tribe flirt with foxy ladies and wonder if they’re doing enough to land them.
The second half starts with “Mobius,” bringing popping beats and warped loops with it. “Black Spasmodic” has a reggae groove, which isn’t surprising when you consider ATCQ have often acknowledged their reggae and dub influences. “The Killing Season” goes after the rash of violence against black youth in the country, and the low, creeping bass line throughout it underlines the seriousness of the issue. “Lost Somebody” continues the conversation. We’ve all lost somebody, some from illness, some from age, some from violence.
“Movin Backwards” is about surging forward when life pushes you backward. White’s opening rhymes give way to soul vocals by Anderson Paak and then the synth beats fade in and get your head bobbing. The low-end synths on “Conrad Tokyo” remind me of John Carpenter tracks, but Phife’s strong rhymes are classic Quest. “Ego” is another song about illusion; particularly ones our egos create. “Ego has no ending, has people pretending…This is the last Tribe and our ego hopes that you felt us,” Q-Tip says. We have. This record makes it impossible not to feel what they’ve done.
The album ends with “The Donald,” and you might think it’s about Donald Trump, but it’s actually a loving tribute to Phife. Every line from Busta Rhymes in the beginning namedrops him, and all of Q-Tips lyrics pay tribute to him (i.e., “You speak wicked every verse.”). Phife’s name is the last lyric on the album. It’s a great way to end a great record.
This is one of those albums that everyone wanted, but didn’t realize how much until they heard it. It begs multiple plays just to hear all the great beats and to attempt to catch all the wicked lyrics. It was in my top 10 of 2016 after the first listen.
Keep your mind open.
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