Friday, August 15, 2008

Brooklyn's in the house represent, represent.

I love rap music, in fact i can go as far back as 79' with the sugar hill gang vinyl lp, The eighties had it's slew of rappers which can be labeled pioneers, just pick one, everyone had something to say, Rap music was the new thing and it was only around for 4 years before it became mainstream, Breakdancing came about (myself being a breakdancer and b-boy) and electro wasn't far behind, everything was progressing smoothly, But as the 80's grew to a close everyone in hip hop was waiting for the next new thing. it seemed like the 80's rappers were stuck in a time zone, some never emerged from it, some actually made whole careers afterwards, Back then things were simple, there wasn't a flash flood of albums, it was easier to anticipate any type of album without being sidetracked by 15 others. The year was 1990 and i had gone to a music store called Musique back in brooklyn. I had a choice as to which 2 albums to buy, Twin hype or A tribe called quest. I already had a twin hype single but i never heard a tribe track yet, So i grabbed Twin hype, After i came back home i listened to the album for about 10 minutes and my brother suggested i'd take that piece of sh*t back and get A tribe called quest. I went back and adamantly got The tribe album, One of the best decisions i made regarding music.

"Push It Along" – 7:42
"Luck of Lucien" (featuring Lucien Revolucien) – 4:32
"After Hours" – 4:39
"Footprints" – 4:00
"I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" – 4:06
"Pubic Enemy" (featuring DJ Red Alert) – 3:45
"Bonita Applebum" – 3:50
"Can I Kick It?" – 4:11
"Youthful Expression" – 4:52
"Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts)" – 4:01
"Mr. Muhammad" – 3:33
"Ham 'n' Eggs" – 5:27
"Go Ahead in the Rain" – 3:54
"Description of a Fool" – 5:41

I couldn't believe what i was hearing, no corny beats or ridiculous rhymes, The tracks were laid back and very conscious, The Bonita applebum track blew my mind, The whole album is listenable without you letting out a groan. While there were other rap groups to grasp the afrocentric conscious rap wave only a few actually paved the way throughout the years. After a 5 album run the group decided to called it quits. This was in the span of about 8 years. Afterwards the key members released solo albums which were quite disappointing, It just showed how times have changed, No one really cared for it anymore, It's easy to get swept under the rug when there's 20 albums being released per month, It was good while it lasted, A tribe called quest will always have a fan.

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