Classic Review of a Tribe Called Quest's Album, The Low End Theory

I know, I know, we’ve heard so much about this album—but what’s one more go? The Low End Theory. A Tribe Called Quest. Queens? Please stand the hell up. Let’s not beat around the old tattered hip-hop bush. I love this album. It is one of those albums that I can play all the way through and know the words to every track and get the same feeling that I did the first time, the first time I heard “back in the days on the boulevard of Linden…”

I have read in some places that The Low End Theory was one of the most important albums in hip-hop, specifically in the early 1990’s when gansta rap was causing quite a ruckus. And I must agree. While the lyrical flow and jazzy beats initially captivated me, it was later on that I came to appreciate the collective substance of the album. No killing, no crime, just three guys talking about the issues of their day. Yes Abstract did ask us “what's a black nation, without black unity?” in “What,” and they did reveal the issues of the city when they stated that “society taught her, but they didn't tame her” in “Everything is Fair.” “Rap Promoter” and “Show Business” should be played for every emerging, young, black hip-hop artist because the then 21-year-olds kicked knowledge about the rap game that over the last fifteen years has changed little. Who can forget “Excursions” where the group sampled vocals from The Last Poets? “Scenario” was definitely the fun joint on the album, featuring some of the liveliest of characters including Busta Rhymes, but “Check the Rhyme,” was the superstar of the album. Basically, this album showed the world what hip-hop should be about—good, positive music. And this is what this album did. It gave us pure, unadulterated hip-hop at its finest.

Yes, yes, yes, Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammed, you are on point. All the time.