Hip-hop is largely unexplored territory for me. I'm familiar with a lot of stuff that's been on the radio for the past 20-ish years, and I've picked up the occasional album here and there, but as far as a working knowledge of what is good and great in the world of rap: I am at a loss. When I look at lists of all-time greatest hip-hop albums, I'm lucky if I've heard even one or two songs from those albums, let alone the records as a whole. So when it was suggested to make A Tribe Called Quest's 1991 LP, 'The Low End Theory' this week's album, I was excited to delve into what is considered one of the greatest hip-hop LPs of all time.
After a week with this record and 13 listens, I can honestly say this is the best hip-hop album I've had the pleasure to listen to (which to be fair isn't that many). I think what has proved to be a roadblock for me in the past with hip-hop is lyrics. For the majority of my listening life, I haven't been a lyrics person and with so much of the enjoyment of hip-hop being solely based on lyrics; it never really struck a cord with me. (Quick Aside: Spending time with and thinking about lyrics has been one of my favorite parts of The Locked Groove thus far. It's something that, for one reason or another, I never paid much attention to before and I'm really starting to enjoy this it). So spending a week listening to this record has really helped me appreciate that aspect of hip-hop, and I couldn't have asked for better album to do it with.
Beneath Q-Tip and Phife's amazing rhyming is a rock solid production. A Tribe Called Quest's beats and sampling on this record are flawless. While many of the beats may seem quite simple at first, they reveal themselves to be a perfect foundation for some excellent rhyming. Loud crisp drum beats, great bass, and the jazz sample loops that Tribe use all combine perfectly into auditory experiences that are impossible not to bob your head along to. The use of samples on almost every track also helps Tribe to draw the line between the two musical forms of hip-hop and jazz. The album opens with Q-Tip rapping that his father says that hip-hop reminds him of "be-bop" and they use the rest of the record to illustrate that point; highlighting the importance of rhythm and improvisation in both art forms. Each track has intricacies that after multiple listens make you realize just how much work and skill it takes to make a record like this. The fact that Tribe make it seem like its no big thing is a testament to their skill.
There really isn't a dud on the record. I suppose tracks like The Infamous Date Rape and Skypager (the only song that really dates the record seeing as it is an ode to pagers) aren't as rock solid as some others; but they serve their purpose in the flow of the record and it would be worse off with them missing. As far as standouts, I mentioned Check the Rhime and Jazz (We've Got) above and I will add Buggin' Out, with its outstanding opening verse by Phife, and What?, which has Q-Tip delivering hilarious one-liners over an awesomely funky beat. But for me all of these pale in comparison to the closing track, Scenario, which features guest verses from the members of Leaders of the New School (which includes Busta Rhymes). Members of Tribe and New School take turns delivering verses, each one full of great rhymes and rhythms; each building on the momentum of the previous one until it reaches Busta Rhymes' show-stopping verse in which he is both gloriously unhinged and totally in control of his delivery. Words can't really do it justice so, please, have a watch and listen; you'll be a better person for it.
I've enjoyed my week with this record so much more than I thought I would. With each listen, the familiarity builds with the rhymes and the hooks and I'm able to rap and bob along with my favorite parts. It has just become really fun to listen to; more fun than I ever thought I could have listening to a rap album. So whether hip-hop is uncharted waters for you or old hat, if you haven't given 'The Low End Theory' a listen; I highly recommend it. Even if rap is "not your thing", this record has so much to offer lyrically and musically that you'll find something to enjoy. I don't know if this will lead me to become a true hip-hop convert but I do know that this record will be entering regular rotation in my collection, and I hope you all are able to give it a spin and enjoy it as well. It's good. Real good.
Up Next: My wife suggested that for this coming week I should pick a very popular artist. Somebody that everyone knows well or is at least familiar with; and form a real opinion either way about a legitimate POP star. So she suggested I go with one of the biggest albums of the last few years; a record that has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and produced 5 number one singles: Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. I'm going to go with 'The Complete Confection' edition so we can get the full experience. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? It will be an interesting trip I'm sure.
I'm sure I've told you by now of my brief flirtation / obsession with hip hop, or electro as it was also then called when I worshiped. This would have been between the exact years of, say, 1985 to 1990, before you were even five years old, right? Wow.
ReplyDeleteA couple of events lately have had me wondering when it all began, and this is one of them. Trying to locate an exact point, and the closest I can get to it must have been when I bought one of those classic Street Sounds UK compilation LP's.
The first one of those was featured in last night's viewing of Shaun of the Dead, when they both topple in from the pub drunk as lords and are scratch mixing to a record when their room mate awakes angry and hurls the LP out of the window. It shows up later out in the garden before being thrown at an approaching zombie, where a part of it gets stuck in the zombie's head. Yep, Street Sounds Electro 1 (I think), which Shaun / Simon announces in the movie to be the second album he ever bought.
Mine was a few later than that one but I've since backtracked and got them all and would recommend you to do the same. Great records with a lot of then fairly innocent and sweet sparring between rappers, back in the days of def and skeezer.
When I got my first Street Sounds album the sound was turning subtly, from the sweet friendly early Fresh Prince style to the slightly more aggressive Just-Ice and KRS-One stuff which would kick in hard a few years later, both versions present on Street Sounds 15 from 1986. I think that's as close to a date-stamp starting point as I can get.
So when you talk here about lists of all-time greatest hip hop albums, if the lists visit as far back as 1983 to 1990 I'd no doubt own a few of those, much to the dismay of the band I was in at the time and their collective "Call this music?" and "This will never last" ripostes.
The record you mention is just outside of one of the last hip hop albums I can recall buying - Mantronix's ace This Should Move Ya from 1990 - which included the excellent Got to Have Your Love and also a bizarre track called Sex n' Drugs n' Rock n' Roll - to my knowledge the only time an American rap act has sampled Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Surreal.
Sigh.
Those were the days for me in many ways, when the whole musical world opened up in a completely separate direction to the one I was happily trolling along in. It's never happened to me since and I doubt it will happen again.
Thanks for this blog, mate. Always entertaining and often inspiring.
Cheers.
Thanks for the thoughts and stories, friend. In the brief dabbling I've done in hip-hop, I do always find myself drawn to the older, more classic stuff from the 80s and early 90s. I just like the sound and the use of samples; which I don't see/hear as much anymore. I'll have to see if I can track down one of those Street Sound comps; it sounds like a great time. I now also need to watch 'Shaun of the Dead' again :).
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