Some albums are so good you never forget the place you were when you first heard them. Every time one of these gems comes on, you are transported back to that moment.
A Tribe Called Quest is probably the most influential rap group of all time, even though it may no longer be considered underground. Tribe is a pioneer of the hip-hop movement. Although all of the group's albums are good, Tribe's third release, Midnight Marauders, is one that will forever remind me of the good and bad times of adolescence.
Before rap music had Atmosphere, before there were artists like Sage Francis and Eyedea, there was Tribe. In 1993, when the genre was becoming commercial and gangster rap was blowing up, Tribe members came out with their third album that reminded real heads why hip-hop is the music of the ghetto child.
Tribe formed in 1988. MCs Q-Tip, Phife and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad are known for their play on words. Phife and Tip take turns narrating a song, often finishing each other's sentences as though they are in a freestyle circle.
Some would say nothing could top the second album, The Low End Theory, but I disagree. Midnight Marauders is virtuously flawless, with a much cleaner production than the first two. Songs are laced with jazzy beats, a sound Tribe and fellow members of the Native Tongues coined.
I remember driving around in my car before I had a CD player. I would listen to Midnight Marauders over and over. If I tried changing it, the tape would always end up back in the deck somehow.
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All of the songs are stellar, but some are particularly noteworthy. "Midnight" is the type of song you listen to while driving home late at night. Q-Tip has a solo on the track in which he talks about the beauty of the night to kids who prowl the streets after the sun goes down. It is narrative, yet poetic and spiritual as he depicts the moon dangling in the midnight sky while an instrument that sounds like a harmonica breaks it down.
"Award Tour" is another classic, one of Tribe's best-known singles. It is impossible to stand still when the song begins and the organ kicks in. You feel the world tour Tribe members are on, because you are right there with them.
"Electric Relaxation" is forever an under-the-sheets song. It is the song of budding teenage love and paints a picture of young girls walking around in mini skirts while hormonal boys attempt to spit game. Like the rest of the album, it is a summer song to be played at parties where there are break dancers and bottles of 40-ounce malt liquor.
The reason Midnight Marauders strikes a chord in the hearts of many Tribe fans is partly because it is bittersweet. This CD marked the end of a truly fantastic career for the group. Later albums Beats Rhymes and Life and The Love Movement were okay, but nothing compared to Tribe's earlier music. Shortly after the release of The Love Movement, the group broke up. Q-Tip and Phife tried releasing solo albums, but they didn't sound nearly as good as Tribe as a whole.
And while fans everywhere were heartbroken by the news of the group's breakup, it was inevitable. All good things must come to an end, and if Tribe was to resurrect its influential early-'90s sound now, it wouldn't be the same. Conscientious underground hip-hop with laidback beats comes a dime a dozen anymore.
But A Tribe Called Quest was doing its own thing long before it was cool, and Midnight Marauders highlights this like no other album.
