A Tribe Called Quest We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
The new album from A Tribe Called Quest, the first in 18 years, captures the final recordings of Phife Dawg, who died in March. It’s monumental, to say the least, considering we last saw the group together in 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life, which found its members at odds with one another.
Sonically, the album picks up where 1998’s The Love Movement left off, again opting for a more lo-fi, reverbed sound than brighter LPs like Midnight Marauders. The moody vibe captures the sentiment of the period in which it was recorded, leading up to Phife’s death, along with the current feel as this country heads into a Trump presidency. The bleak outlook is prominent on opening cuts “The Space Program” and “We the People…,” with the latter’s hook prophetically turning an eye toward what the next four years might look like, suggesting everything (non-white) must go.
Filled to the brim with carefully chosen guest appearances, We Got It From Here pulls old collaborators (Consequence, Busta Rhymes) and new-generation artists Tribe has clearly influenced (Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak). That diversity is expertly explored on both “Kids…, featuring Andre 3000, and “Dis Generation,” arguably the best cut on the album. Satellite member Jarobi takes on a big role here, which is a bit jarring since it’s the first time we’ve really heard him rap on a Tribe record.
Along with being perhaps the group’s most socially conscious record, this is also the most experimental in terms of production. There’s an imperfection to the arrangement, avoiding standard 16-bar verses and hooky song structures, veering off on songs like the hypnotic, Elton John-sampling “Solid Wall of Sound” or the gorgeous “Melatonin.” The infusion of live instruments into the usual sampled repertoire shows just how much Tribe matured during its two-decade sabbatical.
This is not the best A Tribe Called Quest album, but it far exceeds others. Most importantly, it’s monumental for what it represents for the group historically: the ability to put differences aside and bow out gracefully. Thank you Q-Tip, Phife, Ali and Jarobi.
