149: A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991)
“I just went to another level when I was getting ready to do Low End Theory. I wouldn't say it was 'do or die.' It was more like 'Okay, now watch what we can do."
—Q-Tip
Here we go, yo! It's been a while since this podcast has covered either a hip-hop album or a jazz album — so this week, we're doing both at once! A Tribe Called Quest formed in the late ‘80s in the New York City neighborhood of St. Albans, Queens, which was home to some of the giants of jazz, blues, and funk, and was a hotbed of musical activity in the years when hip-hop was simmering into existence. On Tribe’s 1991 album The Low End Theory, members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammed pay tribute to this rich musical legacy with an album that charted a new path for hip-hop by exploring its roots in bebop, hard bop, post-bop, all the other bops, and more. This album isn’t just a classic – it’s one of the sacred texts of the hip-hop genre, and it helped Rich get into jazz after years of failed attempts. So if you’re a jazz aficionado who’s on the fence about hip-hop, or vice versa, we invite you to crank up the bass and check the (discord and) rhime with us. Just watch out for the dungeon dragon!
Miscellany
Disclaimer: This episode features some coarse language, or at least as much as Ron Carter would allow, so we have the explicit tag turned on and the bleeps turned off.
The following sources provided the lion’s share of the background info for this episode:
Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib is a fascinating combination of A Tribe Called Quest biography, sociocultural history of Black art in the United States, and personal memoir, and really gets at the heart of what it means to love a band. The book was longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award, and Abdurraqib was also the recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2021.
The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop by Jonathan Abrams is a thorough survey of hip-hop and its rich and varied local scenes, told by many of its central figures. As an oral history, it’s necessary to take some of the sources with a grain of salt, but the chapter on Native Tongues and A Tribe Called Quest is filled with useful information.
Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies by Brian Coleman features a wide range of interviews with hip-hop artists discussing some of the genre’s most important albums. The chapter on The Low End Theory contains a concise, informative history of Tribe’s origins and a track-by-track runthrough of the album by Q-Tip and Phife Dawg.
The documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, directed by Michael Rapaport and released in 2011, is a fast-moving, panoramic look back at Tribe’s history as well as a chronicle of their in-group tensions as they toured in the early 2010s. The tour segments are a bit of a tough watch, but like any good music documentary, it add context and color to art that you normally experience using only your ears.
This 2019 piece by Red Bull Music Academy provided a lot of the background information on the history of pause tapes, and the academy also conducted an interview with Q-Tip in 2013 where he elaborates on his own process as a producer.
Special thanks to Producer Mike for the introduction, which is a spoof of “Midnight Marauders Tour Guide” from the album of the same name, originally performed by Laurel Dann.
Q-Tip’s verse in “Black Is Black” is actually the first utterance of the name “A Tribe Called Quest.” The group was initially known simply as Quest, but when he introduced himself on mic as “Q-Tip from a group called Quest,” Afrika Baby Bam of the Jungle Brothers suggested he change “group” to “tribe.” The rest is history.
In addition to being the name of a character from Do the Right Thing, “Buggin’ Out” was written about the contemporary trend of R&B stars taking on hip-hop personas in an attempt to appear edgy, which bothered Q-Tip, who felt it was done entirely out of commerce. This trend reversed itself later in the ‘90s, when hip-hop acts started hiring R&B singers to sing hooks and choruses.
50 Cent actually played an air marshal in the Boondocks in-universe Soul Plane sequel Soul Plane II: The Blackjacking, not a flight attendant. Discord & Rhyme regrets the error.
Other links
The official A Tribe Called Quest website (atribecalledquest.com)
“Excursions” on HBO’s Station Eleven (YouTube)
Discord & Rhyme’s merch store (TeePublic)
Buy Libby Cudmore’s book, Negative Girl (Penguin Random House)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Rich Bunnell (host)
Mike DeFabio (moderator)
Phil Maddox
The Low End Theory tracklist
Excursions
Buggin’ Out
Rap Promoter
Butter
Verses from the Abstract
Show Business
Vibes and Stuff
The Infamous Date Rape
Check the Rhime
Everything Is Fair
Jazz (We’ve Got)
Skypager
What?
Scenario
Other clips used
A Tribe Called Quest:
Award Tour
I Left My Wallet in El Segundo
Can I Kick It?
Push It Along
Bonita Applebum
Electric Relaxation
Ham 'n' Eggs
Mobius
Others:
Cal Tjader - Aquarius
Deee-Lite - Groove Is in the Heart
Beastie Boys - Get It Together
A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour
The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
Jungle Brothers - Black Is Black
De La Soul - Buddy
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - A Chant for Bu
Shades of Brown - The Soil I Tilled for You
The Last Poets - Time
Jack Dejohnette's Directions - Minya's the Mooch
Lonnie Smith - Spinning Wheel
Eric Mercury - Long Way Down
The New Birth - Keep On Doin' It
Sly and the Family Stone - Stand!
Little Junior Parker - Taxman
Positive K - I Got a Man
Common - I Used to Love H.E.R.
Weather Report - Young and Fine
Gary Bartz - Gentle Smiles (Saxy)
Chuck Jackson - I Like Everything About You
Big Daddy Kane - Set It Off
Ice Cube - It Was a Good Day
Heatwave - The Star of a Story
Joe Farrell - Upon This Rock
Miles Davis - Footprints
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - In the House
The Fatback Band - Wicky Wacky
Gerson King Combo - Mandamentos Black
Ferrante & Teicher - Midnight Cowboy
Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady
Soul II Soul - Keep On Movin'
Tuff City Squad - Bust the Break
James Brown - Funky President (People It's Bad)
Brand Nubian - To the Right
Albert King - Oh, Pretty Woman
Wu-Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)
Grant Green - Down Here on the Ground
They Might Be Giants - Spiraling Shape
The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Cylinder
Bobby Hutcherson - Catta
Cannonball Adderley - The Steam Drill
Jackie Jackson - Is It Him or Me
Buck 65 - You Know the Science
Average White Band - Love Your Life
Grover Washington Jr. - Hydra
Dalton & Dubarri - I'm Just a Rock n' Roller
Brother Jack McDuff - Oblighetto
Minnie Riperton - Baby, This Love I Have
Biz Markie - Nobody Beats the Biz
Gang Starr - ALONGWAYTOGO
World Renown - How Nice I Am
The Pharcyde - Pork
Troubleneck Brothers - Back to the Hip-Hop
Big Daddy Kane - Give It to Me
S.F.C. - The Vibe
Blunted Dummies - House for All
Outkast - Elevators (Me & You) - (ONP 86 Mix)
MC Hammer - Break 'Em Off Somethin' Proper
Common - Breaker 1/9 (Slope Remix)
A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebum
Rotary Connection - Memory Band
The Fugees - Killing Me Softly
Funkadelic - Let's Take It to the People
Willis Jackson - Ain't No Sunshine
Willis Jackson - Don't Knock My Love
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
Ninja Man - Murder Dem
Jimmy McGriff - Green Dolphin Street
Five Stairsteps - Don't Change Your Love
The Dells - Segue 2
Soul Coughing - Uh, Zoom Zip
Sly and the Family Stone - Advice
Eric Dolphy - 17 West
U2 - Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car
GZA - Labels
GZA - 0% Finance
Paul Humphrey - Uncle Willie's Dream
Outkast - ?
Brother Jack McDuff - Oblighetto
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Little Miss Lover
Miles Davis - So What
Nicki Minaj - Roman's Revenge
Lords of the Underground - Sleep for Dinner
Beastie Boys - The Brouhaha
French Montana - Shot Caller
Digital Underground - Shake & Bake
Das Racist - Who's That? Brooown!
Method Man - We Some Dogs
Barenaked Ladies - One Week
Missy Elliott - Pass That Dutch
PRhyme - Rock It
ScHoolboy Q - Rolling Stone
Miguel - How Many Drinks? (Remix)
Black Moon - Powaful Impak!
Busta Rhymes - On Your Marks, Get Set, Ready, Go
Digable Planets - Dog It
De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays"
The Moody Blues - Vintage Wine
Band/album personnel
Ali Shaheed Muhammad – DJ, arrangement, mixing, production
Phife Dawg – vocals, arrangement, mixing, production
Q-Tip – vocals, arrangement, mixing, production
Busta Rhymes – vocals (12)
Ron Carter – bass (5)
Charlie Brown – vocals (12)
Diamond D – vocals (6)
Dinco D – vocals (12)
Lord Jamar – vocals (6)
Sadat X – vocals (6)
Bob Power – engineering, mixing
Pete Christensen, Eric Gast, Rod Hui, Gerard Julien, Jim Kvoriak, Tim Latham, Anthony Saunders, Christopher Shaw, Marc Singleton, Jamey Staub, Dan Wood – engineering
Tom Coyne – mastering
Skeff Anselm – production
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
A Tribe Called Quest – Check the Rhime (this episode only)
You can buy or stream The Low End Theory and other albums by A Tribe Called Quest at your local record store or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing and production are by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for the introduction and theme song. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.