Name: Midnight Marauders
Brand: A Tribe Called Quest

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

12414149022

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

1993-11-09

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Sony

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

A Tribe Called Quest

Genre US

Hip Hop

Label US

Legacy

A Tribe Called Quest was a critically acclaimed rap group formed in 1988 in Queens, New York City. The group consisted of Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi, and Phife Dawg. They were part of the Native Tongues Posse along with Queen Latifah, De La Soul, Black Sheep, Monie Love, and the Jungle Brothers. Their music blended jazz and hip-hop influences to create a unique sound.

After their debut in 1989 with "Description Of A Fool," they gained popularity with hits like "Bonita Applebum" and "Can I Kick It?" Their album "The Low-End Theory" showcased their blend of boom bap beats with jazz, funk, and soul melodies. ATCQ collaborated with jazz bass player Ron Carter and incorporated samples from artists like Lou Reed and Stevie Wonder.

Throughout their career, ATCQ released several successful albums including "Midnight Marauders," which earned them the Group Of The Year award at the Source Magazine Hip Hop Award Show in 1994. Their album "Beats, Rhymes And Life" debuted at number 1 on the Billboard chart in 1996. Although their later album "The Love Movement" received critical acclaim but lacked the spark of their earlier works.

Third and last of the "classic" <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/a-tribe-called-quest">Tribe</a> records it is arguably the group's most musically sophisticated album.

The tracks balance jazz, soul, and even reggae influences with pure hip-hop to arrive at a completely distinctive <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/a-tribe-called-quest">Tribe</a> sound, the logical evolution of the bop-inflected hooks which characterised Low End Theory. Production-wise, Tribe graduates from a cool school aesthetic to an electric jazz sound (reminiscent of fusion-era <a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/artist/miles-davis">Miles Davis</a>). Lyrically, Midnight Marauders finds the group's abstract poetics in excellent form as usual, and Phife is miles ahead of the "mayor-flavour" rhymes of "Can I Kick It".

<a href="https://roughtrade.com/us/music/midnight-marauders-d00b7cc2-f758-4188-9053-a6e96cfbb3f1">LP available here.</a>

Midnight Marauders

Music US