A Tribe Called Quest - We Got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service (Album Review)
Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Written by Jacob Brookman
Photo: Trevor Traynor
Between 1985 and 1998, A Tribe Called Quest established themselves as one of hip hop’s most dynamic and thoughtful acts. Balancing commercial success with artistic innovation across five LPs, they channelled sample-led party grooves alongside conscientious and erudite rhymes.
Their new album, ‘We Got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service’, is their first in 18 years. It’s also set to be their last. It arrives a matter of months after the death of founding member Phife Dawg, who passed away in March at the age of 45. Despite its complex and tragic creation, it is an album of intense musical articulation, and one that demonstrates an aristocratic mastery of hip hop production.
One reason for this is the direction in which the genre has travelled since 1998. While Jay-Z, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar have continued the historical cut ‘n’ paste, sample-led approach to composition, a new generation of trap-influenced producers, among them Mike Will Made It and Metro Boomin, have favoured home-made synth lines and 808 drum loops.
This has resulted in a more synthetic sound, with heavily quantised drums (read: less groovy) and auto-tuned vocals replacing the crackly vinyl scratches of the '80s and '90s.
The result is that the beats employed by A Tribe Called Quest have renewed freshness. The crate-digging aesthetic of tracks like The Killing Season and The Space Program have tonal complexities that push the sound towards jazz, while the faintly distorted kick drum on Kids... and Whateva Will Be should remind purists why they fell in love with hip hop in the first place.
All the time, there are patiently sparse, conceptual sound fragments re-stating the loss of Phife Dawg, who managed to lay down the majority of his lyrics before his untimely death. This is most notably realised with the double bass sample that opens Lost Somebody, and the guitar fret sound that closes it.
Here, guitar duties have been taken by fanboy-turned-collaborator Jack White, who joins Busta Rhymes, Andre 3000, Kendrick and the sensationally talented Anderson .Paak in contributing. Elton John, meanwhile, plays a twinkly Rhodes outro on Solid Wall of Sound, which also samples his track Benny and the Jets.
Elsewhere, ‘We, The People…’ addresses the noxious political climate by listing demographics ripe for deportation in Trump’s America. The song - a performance of which followed Dave Chappelle’s stirring Saturday Night Live monologue in the immediate aftermath of the November 8 election - is one of the more shamelessly throwback tracks on the album, with dub-plate vocal reverb, police siren samples and fuzz bass that feels straight from the ‘90s.
Ultimately, though, this is an album of intense relevance and one that represents an impressive return to form from solid gold hip hop innovators. It's a real shame that Phife Dawg is not around to enjoy it.
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