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A Tribe Called Quest
Beats, Rhymes and Life
(Zomba Music)
The much anticipated fourth album (not including Revisited Quest,) from A
Tribe Called Quest has, at last, hit music store shelves around the
country. Thankfully, it doesn't disappoint.
Beats, Rhymes and Life reunites the trio of Phife, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed
Muhammad to once again get heads bobbing around the globe. As usual, Tribe
comes correct with tight production and tight lyrics. What we're given is
an album with an original flavour, while still retaining those elements
that keep the crew familiar. Primarily this takes the form of Q-Tip's
distinctive voice and Phife's distinctive lyrical style.
"Phony Rappers" kicks it all off and is the perfect track to do so. This
is a straight-up diss to all those kids jumping on the hip-hop bandwagon
lately, particular all the "phony rappers". Phife and Q-Tip pass the mic
back and forth, reminding their listeners what being an MC really entails.
More importantly, it points out that you can't adopt hip-hop today and
expect to be king MC or whatever tomorrow. Hip-hop is a way of life and as
Q-Tip says, "who will be the captain of this ship? If it goes down, don't
you know you have to go with it?" Dedication. Among other things, it
keeps Tribe consistent.
Jumping to the latter half of the album, "Keeping It Moving" presents
Tribe's view on the whole "West Coast Vs. East Coast" debate that the
hip-hop media (and I use the word "media" here very loosely, as hip-hop
magazines have been in a laughable state lately...) seems to have been
obsessed with lately. If anything "Keeping It Moving" provides testimony
to Tribe's maturity. Intelligently, they acknowledge that the whole "coast
thing" is a waste of time, considering that each side of the U.S. has its
good and wack rappers. Tribe, being east coast, send shouts to a whole
slew of rappers in the west, proving that talent exists on all sides.
After all, the west provides diversity from the Pharcyde, to the Souls of
Mischief, to Dr. Dre. How can you diss a whole region? Q-Tip argues that
you can't and of course, he is right.
"1nce Again" is the first single from the album. While it doesn't possess
the mass appeal needed for chart success, it's still a great tune with a
beautiful soulful chorus, added courtesy of Tammy Lucas. The sequel to the
classic "Check the Rhime" (of 91's Low End Theory), one of its more
interesting features is that despite the bass line thumping throughout, the
whole track is undercut by a bass "sound" that can't really be defined.
It's not really a clear-cut drum beat as such, but as I say better likened
to a deep sound that rolls on throughout "1nce Again", after it is
scratched in early on by Ali Shaheed. Naturally, the lyrics are also on
point. Or as Q-Tip introduces the track, "You on point Phife?" "1nce
again Tip!" (hence the connection to "Check the Rhime", where a similar
introduction is made.)
Although I've only really looked at three songs closely, I should say that
it's impossible for me to talk in detail about every good track that
appears on Beats, Rhymes and Life. If I did, I'd discuss near every track!
In other words, you're going to probably want to pick this one up if you
have even a passing interest in rap (as opposed to a life-time immersion in
hip-hop.) For those merely "dabbling", Tribe's latest definitely gives
some "user-friendly" tunes out to the listener, who's bound to find at
least half the album enjoyable. Sure it's no Low End Theory, but the time
is long gone where we should assess Tribe according to their "classics of
yesteryear". Tribe are looking forward and by maintaining their dedication
and consistency (there's those words again!), their future looks as bright
as their past.
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Nas
It Was Written
(Columbia)
Nas' second effort, It Was Written presents a better overall effort than
what we received in Illmatic. Granted Illmatic was a classic, but at the
end of the day you just didn't feel like you got your money's worth. I
mean, a 38 minute album? What kind of bullshit is that?
Anyway, It Was Written gives us over an hour of glorious music so I
certainly can't complain in that respect. In fact, I can't really complain
in any respect. What we've got here is one very good album. Nas, renowned
for his lyrics, once again delivers. Intelligent word-play delivers his
story of the gritty New York streets. However, Nas seems to have graduated
from the common hoodlum of Illmatic, to the king-pin running the show of It
Was Written. A common theme that seems to be running throughout the album
is the continuous attempt to get ahead in the ghetto, "by all means
necessary".
Production wise, It Was Written shapes up to be something of a "who's who"
in big-clout producers. We need go no further than look at the fact that
he employs the two heavy hitters of the industry on two of his tracks: Dr.
Dre and DJ Premier. This is seen in Dre's "Nas Is Coming" and Primo's "I
Gave You Power".
The former is yet another respected artist commenting on the absolute
stupidity inherent in the latest flaring up of the "East Vs. West Coast"
hip-hop debate. A collaboration between Dr. Dre, possibly the west's most
respected producer, and Nas, one of the east's most respected lyricists,
is a statement to what can be achieved through cooperation. As usual, you
can spot Dre's production a mile away, but he still delivers a tight piece
of work, with Nas flowing nicely over the top of it all.
DJ Premier's "I Gave You Power" is hardly typical of his usual production
style. Rather, the music sounds like something off a Wu-Tang album. Not
that I'm saying Primo's biting Wu-Tang's style... No, no, no. Rather, "I
Gave You Power" is testimony to the influence that this one group has had
on the hip-hop world. Lyrically, this is one of the better tracks. Nas
makes a strong statement against inner city violence in examining the
vicious circle it perpetrates, looking at the entire series of events from
a gun's point of view. It's a pleasant change to find artists who, in the
day of "the quick buck", can still generate music that actually has an
intelligent contribution to make.
Still, it doesn't take a big name producer to make a good tune. "Take It
In Blood", "If I Ruled the World" (featuring the Fugees' Lauryn Hill), "The
Message" and "Sweet Dreams" (parodying the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams",) are
all excellent, to name but a few.
This is an album that actually deserves all the hype that Illmatic
received. For those who haven't checked out Nas' music before, forget
Illmatic for the time being and move straight onto It Was Written. Why
waste time with entree, when you can go straight onto the main course? An
excellent lyrical style, combined with intelligence and slamming
production, makes this one to definitely check out. Strongly recommended
listening right here!
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There you go. I'll proabably do a review of De La's newbie next and after
that DJ Cam's latest, Mighty Bop's new EP, Source Lab 2, DJ Shadows LP and
Motorbass.
Dino!