back in the days
28 Sep 2005when I was a teenager.. I used to listen to A Tribe Called Quest a lot more (it was mandatory for my generation, actually.)
Jackson informed us that today is Tribe Called Quest day at work. Well, I’m not at work, but I am obliging, anyway.
It’s been a while since I thought about ATCQ, actually. These guys get credit for breaking a lot of new ground – including, let’s face it, bringing hiphop to a lot of white people.
I pretty much stopped paying attention to ATCQ after Midnight Marauders when I discovered De La Soul (which regrettably has also proved to be a deadend as of late, but I digress). A lot of people pinpoint Beats, Rhymes and Life as the downfall of the tribe, but I actually can handle some of this album – it’s not that bad. The Love Movement really represents the epitome of depressing sell-out to me. Not shameless sell-out, but rather self-conscious sell-out. In those stupid white suits and the half-hearted attempts at *bling*. They clearly tried to sell out, but they didn’t want it. The result? A very lame attempt at selling out, and a terrible album.
But let’s not dwell on the future when we have the past. Low End Theory? Molto bene!