A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders Uncut Reaction
Added 2024-11-23 15:53:56 +0000 UTChello my darlings, as I had promised the Midnight Marauders video, someone please tell Q-Tip to be less horny, my man is down BAAAAAD :)
Comments
Some context I'd like to give: hip hop for the most part was focused on positivity until 1988 when NWA released Straight Outta Compton. With songs like Fuck the Police, they were still using classic samples from a lot of black culture, but they were angry at social issues and didn't feel represented in their impoverished communities by all the flowery rhymes. By 1992, after NWA had split, you more or less had Ice Cube dropping classic hardcore gangsta rap on albums like The Predator at the same time you had people like A Tribe Called Quest still pushing positivity on the East Coast, but unfortunately (imho) they just couldn't hold onto chart success as the more compelling stories told by gangsta rappers had the charts. Gangsta rap exploded after the media extensively covered both the 2Pac and Biggie beef as well as multiple cases of murders where the court argued violent lyrics played a significant role in people committing these crimes. And for any teenage kid, authority figures telling you not to listen to something is the most surefire way to guarantee kids will want to hear your music. By 1999 tho, Jay-Z had slowly been changing his gangsta lyrics to be more party-friendly, trying to diversity his listening base outside of just "thugs," which provided an in for what a lot of people called "bling" rappers like 50 Cent that still kept it gangsta but focused a lot more on the cars and the hoes and whatnot. That was the environment Kanye was entering around 2000 when he started producing for Jay-Z, and Kanye of course did an excellent job on TCD blending stories about hood life over boombastic vibe-y beats that weren't exactly party tracks like Jesus Walks. As opposed to Kanye today who doesn't care what sounds hot because he'll make whatever sound he wants hot, Kanye then was intensely aware of where hip-hop was at and I think he intentionally found a way to strike a balance between a lot of different factions in hip hop that had only been looking to beef for some time before that
Alex Carter
2025-03-03 11:16:51 +0000 UTCI 2nd that - I joined for Radiohead but Tribe is a top 5 artist for me, living through my teens and college years through the 90s, magical tie for hip hop - wore out "Hard To Earn" on cassette, but Moment of Truth - having 'Above the Clouds' alone gives it the edge
Drew W
2025-01-15 03:31:46 +0000 UTCSubscribed just for this, would love to see you review moment of truth by gang star it’s really your vibe lots of jazzy samples and all done by dm premier :)
Paul
2025-01-14 23:03:46 +0000 UTC
