A Tribe Called Quest: People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

A Tribe Called Quest’s debut is an archetypal of an old school hip-hop album. The beats are banging. The lyrics are witty. The deliveries are engaging. On top of all, no cuss words were needed. The album opens with “Push It Along” and the hook is just addictive. The jazz horn samples are just so savory to the ears. The beat on “Lucky of Lucien” is so damn tuneful and you gotta love the wordplay from Q-Tip, “If you go to jail, then who will pay the bail? / Deport you back to France on a ship with a sail / Escargot, Lucien, you eat snails.” And of course the classic, “Bonita Applebum—you gotta put me on” with rhymes like, “38-24-37 / You and me, hun, we’re a match made in Heaven.” We need to get back to the good old rhymes sans the misogyny.