| Throwback Write-Up #3: A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm / (30 Years Later) [Discussion] Posted: 09 Apr 2020 08:21 AM PDT Mod's note: Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of People's Instinctive Travels. This write-up will also serve as the 30 Years Later Discussion Thread
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Background Producer and MC Kamaal "Q-Tip" Fareed, the late MC Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor, DJ Ali Shaheed Mohammed, and MC Jarobi White make up A Tribe Called Quest. They came together in Queens, NY in 1985, where Tip and Phife were childhood friends, and went to high school with Shaheed and Jarobi. The name "A Tribe Called Quest" was penned by the group The Jungle Brothers. The two groups were a part of the Native Tongues collective, a group of hip-hop artists that focused on positive-minded and good-meaning Afrocentric lyrics, while incorporating heavy sampling and jazz-influenced beats. Other members included De La Soul and Queen Latifah. Through the Native Tongues, Tip earned himself guest spots on The Jungle Brothers and De La Soul albums, propelling the Tribe to labels' eyes - initially, no label wanted to sign them, but Tip's appearance on 3 Feet High and Rising earned them a contract with Jive Records in 1989. They began recording Travels later that year and finished early in 1990. Tip described the recording process as exciting, since all there was to do was record and make music. Sampling plays a huge part in the album, as Tip and Shaheed would listen to records several seconds at a time to re-work them in relationship with other records that would fit. While recording, Shaheed played all live instruments, DJ scratches, and programming, while Tip handled everything else with production, including sampling and mixing. The album is playful, cheery, and laid back. It is a breath of fresh air so to say, in a time when gangsta rap was beginning to dominate the mainstream. It paved the way for the alternative hip-hop and jazz rap subgenres, and proved to be massively influential in its production, stemming from the breaks that Q-Tip chose to sample. And how about that title? Shaheed described it as: It was something that Tip was toying around with. He was messing around with different words and putting stuff together. He wanted to make the title something people would remember. I remember when he told me, it sounded so crazy that I was like, "Let's go with it." It really made sense. Thinking about the words in the title, they really defined the mission and our thoughts at that time. We really wanted people to believe in our music and to open themselves up to it. We wanted to unite masses of people together. This is why the people that are painted on the album cover are different people painted with different colors. It was representative of humanity and mankind and people coming together over the love of our music. The title was fitting. So without further ado, this is People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
Track by track, plus some notable lines Push It Along РThis ain't trial and error, more like tribin' era The album opens with a baby crying, set against some soft chimes. Almost as abruptly as it began, a smooth bassline and mellow horns come in, a sample from George Washington Jr's "Loran's Dance," set to some drums sampled from Junior Mance's "Thank You Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Agin." These two jazz-funk samples provide the beat to Push It Along, as Q-Tip comes in with his signature laid-back flow. The first words ever spoken on a Tribe song are "Q-Tip is my title," as Tip casually informs the listener what they will find out later Рthis is Tip's album. He commands the driver's seat and never lets up on the gas, proving his prowess both as an MC and as a DJ. A simple chorus comes in, repeating the words "Push it along, push it along, push it along, yeah push it along," right before the 5 Foot Assassin comes in for his first verse as a part of the Tribe. Phife Dawg bounces on his verse about sitting back and chilling, as Q-Tip gets off two more verses, both about some small worries in life. But he reassures that "this ain't trial and error, more like Tribin' era," letting the listener know that this is what the Tribe is all about Рmellow bars about relaxing. All you gotta do is push it along. After the final chorus, the bass from Eugene McDaniels' "Jagger the Dagger" plays behind Jarobi calling out to the rest of the Tribe, to the Jungle Brothers, and other members of the Native Tongues. This outro appears on a few of the other tracks, specifically After Hours, Bonita Applebum, Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts), and Ham 'n' Eggs. Jarobi ends the song by saying "A friend of mine asked me about the Luck of Lucien," bringing us into the second song on the album. Luck of Lucien РListen very close, 'cause I don't like to boast - Luck of Lucien opens with one of the most recognizable melodies in history, sampling the trumpets from The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love." Interestingly enough, the portion from "All You Need Is Love" that the Tribe sampled borrows from "La Marseillaise," the French national anthem. This fits in with the theme of "Luck of Lucien," as Q-Tip tells the story of Lucien Revolucien, a French hip-hop artist who was part of the Native Tongues and featured on Afrika Bambaata's "Hip-Hop Against Apartheid"/"L'Unit̩ Africaine." Q-Tip takes charge of the song, rapping over Billy Brooks' soul-jazz song "Fourty Nights," a beat that sounds reminiscent of a car or light beer commercial on an NFL Sunday, or also of the Rocky theme song. Nevertheless, Q-Tip talks on Lucien's naivety regarding America РLucien eats snails, got scammed by a crackhead selling a VCR, and knows nothing about picking up women. Tip ends the song by praising Lucien's resilience, and bids him luck in his endeavors ahead, as is the luck of Lucien.
After Hours – Like always, the Quest begins in the mist though the rhythms moving - One of the more straightforward songs on the album, Q-Tip raps about his experience late one night. Set to a direct sample of Sly & the Family Stone's "Remember Who You Are" and the drums from Les McCann's "North Carolina," Q-Tip vividly paints a picture of New York City at ten past one in the morning. He's struck out and "couldn't catch a fish," grabs some beers and an apple juice, watches the moon in the sky, meets up with the rest of the Tribe, talks with them about hip hop, the economy, and taxes as the night turns into morning. You know, a typical night out. The climax of the song comes after Tip's second verse, where the morning wind is on its way in, as you "hear the frogs dancing in the street, once again Ali will bring up the beat," replacing a chorus for frogs croaking. The night is then over, the sun is out, and Tip heads on home to start up the rhythmic path. After hours, it was cool.
Footprints – Footin up and down like a UNLV Rebel - Footprints is one of Q-Tip's most impressive works. He packs in dense rhymes on one of the quickest-paced songs on the album, rhyming about his day to day travels and the footprints he's left. One of Tribe's most complex, the beat is made up of samples from Donald Byrd, horns from Stevie Wonder, and drums from Public Enemy. And even though he took a backseat on it, Phife holds the song in pretty high regard too - It's one of his favorite Tribe songs:
Lyrically, Q-Tip is pretty much genius on this one. And I love the Stevie Wonder sample, the way he flipped it and the drums. I Left My Wallet in El Segundo – Damn, Tip, what did you drive so far for? - Sometimes, simpler is better. Up next is one of the most recognizable Tribe songs, and their debut single. The song opens with a Spanish guitar sample from The Young Rascals' "Sueno," as Q-Tip tells his story over the instrumental to The Chambers Brothers' psych-soul song "Funky." Tip's story is a pretty obvious one – he left his wallet in El Segundo. One day, his mother left for a month-long cruise trip and, like any responsible parent, left her son home alone. Tip calls up Ali, and the two go for a drive. Ali had the cash, and next thing they know, it's two and a half days later and they're out of New York and over in El Segundo, California. They stop for lunch at a pub "in the middle of nowhere, anywhere would have been better." Ali tells Tip to pay, and just as he's doing it, Tip sees the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Enchanted by her beauty, it takes Ali to snap him out of his trance, as they head on back to New York. But what do you know, Tip forgot his wallet. In El Segundo's heat, their car sputters for a bit, but all works out and three days later, they're back home. Tip checks his pockets and the car, and says to Ali that they gotta go back, "Because I left my wallet in El Segundo." When speaking on the song, Tip says that he chose El Segundo as a reference to the 70s sitcom Sanford and Son, where Fred Sanford, the show's namesake, would reference El Segundo as a punchline to his jokes.
Pubic Enemy – The king is in the kingdom to await his fate… of the enemy - What really is the pubic enemy? With this cut from Travels, Q-Tip tries his hand at a PSA regarding STDs – specifically pubic lice (crabs). The New York DJ Red Alert, the Tribe's manager at the time, makes a guest appearance as well, for one of the few features on the album. Unlike the past few tracks, Tip is just the storyteller this time, and not speaking from a first-person experience. In the first verse, he talks about a woman who has just woken up from a one-night stand, and, in the morning after, begins to feel an itching and scratching in her pubic region. She knows what's happened, and goes to the doctor, only to confirm what she already knew – it's crabs. Tip's second verse tells of Old King Cole, who is in love with his wife, although Tip has his doubts. Cole runs around with hookers, and one night, his wife catches him scratching and scratching at his pubes. She knows that it's the pubic enemy, and that he didn't get them from her. She runs off, devastated that he would cheat on her. In his last verse, Tip condemns the monster that is the pubic enemy. All of this on one of Tribe's most unique beats, composed of a piano sample from Luther Ingram's "Pity for the Lonely" and the drums from Rufus Thomas' "Do the Funky Penguin." Red Alert then speaks on what it means to be a propmaster, directly leading into one of the most notable songs on the album.
Bonita Applebum – Hey, you're like a hip-hop song, you know? - Bonita Applebum, the second single from the album, is a straightforward love song from Q-Tip to what many suspect was a woman he went to high school with, who had a fat ass. Bonita is Spanish for "beautiful," while applebum refers to an apple bottom, or fat ass (I don't blame you Tip). One of the album's smoother and jazzier beats, it samples RAMP's "Daylight" for the main backing, Rotary Connection's "Memory Band" for the "la la la la" in the intro and for the iconic "buhbuh buh buh" throughout the song, and Little Feat's "Fool Yourself" for the drums. In 1985, Bonita was one of the Tribe's first demos. Initially, Tip used a conventional rap delivery, but after reading a Miles Davis interview talking about spacing and rest, he decided to switch up his flow and rap in the way that made it to the final recording.
- On its 25th anniversary re-release in 2015, Bonita Applebum was retitled "Bonita Applebum – includes 'Can I Kick It' Intro." The McDaniels' "Jagger the Dagger" sample returns for a third time on the album, as Jarobi asks if he can kick it, leading us into the centerpiece of the album.
Can I Kick It? – Yes, you can - Where to begin with this one. Lou Reed's groovy and iconic bassline. One of the most well-known call and response choruses, and its simplicity and catchiness. Q-Tip's soft and welcoming verse. One of Phife Dawg's best verses in his career. His shoutout to Mayor Dinkins. That the two of them were only 19 when they recorded it. The music video that perfectly encapsulates all that Tribe is about. If you were to ask a random person on the street if they know a Tribe song, they would most likely say Can I Kick It. It is one of the Tribe's best songs, and even holds a place in the top tier of all hip-hop songs ever. It's a perfect microcosm of the Tribe, as Q-Tip says it best:
If you feel the urge to freak, do the jitterbug
Come and spread your arms if you really need a hug
Afrocentric living is a big shrug
A life filled with fun that's what I love - Tribe just wants you to have fun, lay back, enjoy the music, and kick it with them. Sampling Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," one of the most recognizable basslines in hip-hop adds a warm and relaxing vibe to the middle of the album. Fun fact: Tribe never saw a penny from the sample, even though it was cleared, Lou Reed took all the profits. Phife revealed this in a 2011 rant. Tribe's influence would be seen for many years following Can I Kick It's release, as artists including Jay-Z, MF DOOM, Drake, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Logic, and many more have all sampled or interpolated the classic track.
Youthful Expression – Get the force like Wan Kenobi - "Youthful Expression," like most of the other tracks, is anchored by its bassline. But what sets it aside from the others is its organs. Here, the beat is provided by jazz-funk and soul-jazz artist Reuben Wilson's "Inner City Blues." Groovy and upbeat, Q-Tip raps for two verses on the youth of today, lamenting against politicians and rap promoters, while showing some optimism for the future of hip-hop and the Afrocentrism movement. He also goes and restates the Tribe's motto:
Bustin caps, finger snaps
I prefer the second for ghetto tracks - At the time of Travels' recording, NWA and Ice Cube were reaching mainstream audiences and proving that gangsta rap was here to stay. Q-Tip instead prefers songs that you could dance to and relax to. That's where this album comes in.
Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts) – If you feel uptight and you need to freak, it'll be alright once we drop this beat Building off of "Youthful Expression" and as implied in its title, "Rhythm" is devoted to the art of moving your butt. Or dancing, if you haven't figured that out yet. Less jazzy and more synth-focused, its beat is a bit less complex than the prior songs. The synth comes from Grace Jones' "Pull Up To My Bumper," as Tip drops his verses on nothing in particular, simply acting as placeholders for the listener to lay back and enjoy the beat. Prince Paul of the Native Tongues opens the song with a statement that "The Native Tongues are about to proceed with the usual lingo, the usual rhythm." In 1988 and 89 respectively, the Native Tongues saw The Jungle Brothers - Straight Out the Jungle and De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising. Q-Tip featured on both of those albums, so now, in 1990, it was his and the Tribe's turn with Travels. With a buttery chorus of the repeated and whispered phrase "I got the rhythm, you got the rhythm" between Tip's verses, "Rhythm" proves to be a classic entry in the Tribe's lexicon. If you hear this and you don't wanna move your butt, then I don't know what to tell you. McDaniels' outro returns for "Rhythm," as Jarobi proclaims "What about our DJ? Mr. Muhammad," which brings us right into the next track. Mr. Muhammad – Muhammad push the button, sample sing the score - Who is Mr. Muhammad? As said in the previous song's outro, he's the DJ – Ali Shaheed Muhammad. In high school, he would occasionally link up with Q-Tip in Tip's rapping, as the two of them saw themselves as a duo. They began making demos, as Phife would later join them, forming A Tribe Called Quest with Jarobi White. With a track dedicated to their DJ, "Mr. Muhammad" shows off Shaheed's prowess as a DJ. Here, he slows down Kool & the Gang's "Electric Frog" and intersperses it with sampled vocals from an Earth Wind & Fire cut. Q-Tip and Phife both put down some understated verses meant to just be placeholders to show off Mr. Muhammad's talents. Full of scratching interludes, beat pauses, beat drops, and drum breaks, Mr. Muhammad crafts a beat that sounds like wading through water as waves crash next to you. It's an often overlooked Tribe cut that deserves every bit of attention it gets, as each member (sorry Jarobi) shines. Phife even namedrops Vice President Dan Quayle in his verse.
Ham 'n' Eggs – A tisket, a tasket, what's in mama's basket? As mentioned before, sometimes simpler is better. The premise of this song doesn't get any much simpler – Tip and Phife don't eat ham and eggs. Why? They're high in cholesterol. Borrowing the drums from Freda Payne's We've Gotta Find a Way Back to Love and the bass from Funkadelic's Cosmic Slop – 01 – Nappy Dugout, the song opens with one of the easiest choruses to memorize. None of the members of the Tribe eat ham or eggs. Tip and Phife then recall a moment at one of their grandmothers' house where they could smell the breakfast cooking. But yet, they don't eat ham 'n' eggs. After the next chorus they each return to rap about their favorite foods. That's it. Simpler is better, and they both have a very refined palate that they describe. The song ends with an extended chorus as more members of the Native Tongues come in to profess whether or not they eat ham 'n' eggs: Afrika of the Jungle Brothers does not, while Posdnous of De La Soul and a man named Gary both do. So, in conclusion, don't eat ham 'n' eggs, they're high in cholesterol. McDaniels' outro returns once again, as Jarobi asks for the right side to chant "funk" and for the left side to chant "rhythm," two of the central themes to the album. After a minute of side to side chanting, the next track comes on in Go Ahead in the Rain – Even though the rain starts pourin, start reachin, star soarin - The penultimate track opens with a few words from the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Sampled from "Rainy Day Dream Away," the song opens with "Rain all day, rain all day, don't you worry," set to sounds of a rainstorm. Then the beat comes in, and, like its predecessors, it's groovy, funky, jazzy, and meant to get you up off your feet. What sets "Go Ahead in the Rain" apart from the others however is that the track sampled isn't a jazz song, but rather a funk rock/disco song, as Slave's Son of Slide provides the main beat, with Brother Jack McDuff's "Classic Funke" lending its drums. Tip then rhymes two verses where he once again proclaims Tribe's electricity and encourages the listener to get up and move to the beat, while at the same time asks them to "go ahead in the rain," with the times of grimness and oppression. Even though it's pouring, the Tribe still knows how to go on and get down and enjoy the fruits of life. Don't let a little thing like rain keep you under.
Description of a Fool – Who would love a woman, turn around, and abuse her? - To end the album, Q-Tip describes a fool, and calls out the fools he sees in his daily life. In the first verse, he speaks to a crack dealer, intimidating both his friends and enemies. Tip teases the dolt, and the man reacts angrily, threatening violence. What else can he be? Nothing more than a fool. In his next verse, Tip then describes a woman he knows. She is caught up in an abusive relationship, as her ex-boyfriend is a psycho who threatens her life and physically abuses her. Tip laments on "who would love a woman, turn around and abuse her? Only a fool as described by the Tribe." He then turns to describe another scene he witnessed one day, observing a couple in the park, as a young man bumps into the boyfriend. The boyfriend grabs the young man by the neck, demanding respect, but the young man hits the boyfriend and walks off. The foolish boyfriend is left embarrassed, and Tip's story concludes. He ends his verse by advising the listener to avoid being a fool and to stay grounded in reality, "and try to avoid the description of a…" as his voice cuts out. The beat is crafted together from Roy Ayers Ubiquity's "Running Away," Sly and the Family Stone's "Runnin' Away," and BT Express' "Still Good – Still Like It." After Tip's verse, the beat rides out for another three minutes to close out the album, thus concluding the People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.
Discussion and Closing Remarks I'm not going to pretend that this album is anything more than what it is. It's not some lyrical masterpiece that tells an intricate story over the course of an hour, but rather an album for the sake of being an album. Half of the tracks are made to let the listener get loose and have some fun, and the other half are full of cheery nonsense and the mundanities of life. That's what the Tribe set out to make, and they hit every mark. Upon its release, Travels was met with universal acclaim. Critics everywhere lauded it for its innovative style, exemplifying the Afrocentric living, and its focus on the music itself. The Source hip-hop magazine even gave Travels the very first 5-mic (out of 5) rating in its publication history, calling it a "completely musical and spiritual approach to hip-hop," and "a voyage to the land of positive vibrations, and each cut is a new experience." If one thing is certain on this album, it's that it is Q-Tip's album. Though he and Phife are the core members and centerpieces of the Tribe, Phife is only on four of the songs. Tip was the only member present at every single recording session. Phife Dawg later commented that, "I was being ignorant on that first album, that's why I was only on a couple of tracks. I was hardly around. I would have rather hung out with my boys on the street and got my hustle on rather than gone in the studio. I wasn't even on the contract for the first album. I was thinking me and Jarobi were more like back-ups for Tip and Ali, but Tip and Ali really wanted me to come through and do my thing." The beauty of this album is that it's made exactly for that guy who's just hanging around with the boys, and looking for something fun to throw on and groove to. The album isn't held in as high regard as some of the other Tribe albums, but I argue that it is the most important for the group themselves. Tip shines so brightly, and it very obviously gives him a ton of confidence that he uses to craft five more classic albums after this. In his four songs, Phife shows incredible potential, and drops one of his all-time best verses on Can I Kick It. The Low End Theory is no doubt Phife's breakout moment, and we get glimpses of what's to come in this prologue to his career. And as he goes on to show in the next albums, Shaheed puts his spinning talent on full display for the entire hour - I don't think there's any other song that's made me move my head quite like Mr. Muhammad has. Jarobi is the black sheep of the group. While he provides backup vocals, he doesn't rap a verse on the album, and his recorded demos for The Low End Theory were never able to see the light of day. Between these two albums' releases, he left the group to pursue his culinary efforts. That hustle did actually end up working out for him, as he is a professional chef. After he left though, the Tribe still saw him as a member of the group. And although it'd be nice to see what he could've done on the other three albums, his return in 2016 on "The Space Program" is an all-time great moment. In a sense, this album is a prologue to all that the Tribe is about. It serves as a preview of what's to come - it's steeped in Afrocentrism, as they later elaborate more on. Being the highest grossing member of the Native Tongues shows that they helped get the message out there. When I think of alternative hip-hop, Tribe is the first artist that comes to mind. Talking about philosophy, peace, and just relaxing for relaxation's sake all the way back in 1990 helped pave the way for so many. Yeah, alternative hip-hop is a super broad term, but their influence cannot be understated. They successfully bridged the gaps between both jazz and hip-hop and the older and newer generations in a way that not many have been able to do. Their production directly influenced their contemporaries, helping change and shape the sound of hip hop. Dr. Dre's debut The Chronic was directly inspired by The Low End Theory, and Pete Rock stated, "There were times when I would walk into a record store and see Q-Tip sitting on the floor with his glasses on, going through albums, looking for beats ... I was like, 'This guy is serious.' Being around [them] made me step up and become even more serious than I was." The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders get all of the attention when it comes to influence, but everything that they have, you can find in Travels. Discussion Questions Favorite song? Favorite verse? Sampling is a huge part of this album. Which sample is your favorite? Is that also your favorite beat on the album? Tribe's influence stems all the way from artists like Consequence, Busta Rhymes, and J Dilla, to Andre 3000 and Talib Kweli, to Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West (and, by extension, every artist that Dilla, 3 Stacks, and Kanye have ever influenced). Where do you most see Tribe's influence? Upon the 2015 25th anniversary reissue, Pitchfork wrote that "Tribe's music needs no updating, even when it sticks out like a sore thumb, because that's exactly what it did in 1990." How do you interpret that? A lot of people have said that they'd be considered "corny" if they released today, why would that be that a bad thing? 30 years later, have the lyrics stood the test of time? What about the beats? Where does Travels fall in your Tribe rankings? submitted by /u/adamjm99 [link] [comments] |
