A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest (2009)
General information
origin	Queens , New York City , United States
Genre (s)	Alternative hip-hop , east coast rap , jazz rap , boom bap , conscious rap
founding	1985, 2006
resolution	1998, 2017
Website	www.atribecalledquest.com
Founding members
MC , producer	Q-tip
MC	Phife Dawg († 2016)
DJ , producer	Ali Shaheed Muhammad
MC	Jarobi White (1985–1991, 2006, 2010, 2016/17)

A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip-hop - group which the genres alternative hip hop and jazz rap is attributed. The band was founded in 1985, dissolved in 1998 and was sporadically active again from 2006 to 2017. The members of the group were the MCs Q-Tip , Phife Dawg († 2016) and Jarobi White as well as the DJ and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad . In 2013 the band split up for the time being. The band's sixth and final album was released in November 2016 . After a farewell tour, A Tribe Called Quest disbanded in September 2017.

A Tribe Called Quest was considered to be one of the hip-hop groups preferred for fans of East Coast sound due to the partly philosophical, partly socially critical texts as well as the pieces often arranged from jazz samples ( jazz rap ) .

history

A Tribe Called Quest (2006)

Q-Tip and Phife grew up in Queens and met when they were young in church. A Tribe Called Quest address their common origins in the song Check the Rhime on their second album The Low End Theory . Q-Tip and Phife later met Ali Shaheed Muhammad in high school. The same school went to the Jungle Brothers , a hip-hop band that later became part of the Native Tongue Family . Through a band member of the Jungle Brothers they became known with DJ Red Alert , who should help them to break through. It was also the Jungle Brothers who coined the name A Tribe Called Quest, after the band had previously simply referred to themselves as Quest. The Native Tongues belonged to the Afrocentricity movement and spread the idea that every African American should remember his legacy.

In August 1989 the first single Description of a Fool was released on a small music label. Q-Tip had previously appeared on some tracks from De La Soul's LP 3 Feet High and Rising and Deee-Lite's Groove Is In The Heart .

In 1989 A Tribe Called Quest went to Jive Records and in the same year released their first album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm . In 1990 they had a hit with the song Bonita Applebum . On The Low End Theory they got support from bassist Ron Carter , who had already played with Miles Davis and John Coltrane . In 2003, A Tribe Called Quest reunited for a short time, resulting in the single ICU (Doin 'It) with Erykah Badu .

A permanent reunification did not take place until 2006 and A Tribe Called Quest gave irregular concerts again in the years to come. In 2011 the documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest was released, which shows the history of the band from the formation to the reunion tour in 2008. Directed by the actor Michael Rapaport .

In November 2016 the album We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service was released. Phife Dawg died of diabetes shortly before the album was finished.

After performing at the English Festival Bestival in Dorset , the group broke up on September 9, 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1990	People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm	-	-	-	UK54 (2 weeks) UK	US91 gold (20 weeks)US	First published: April 17, 1990 US sales: + 500,000
1991	The Low End Theory	-	-	-	UK58 (1 week) UK	US45 platinum (51 weeks)US	First published: September 24, 1991 US sales: + 1,000,000
1993	Midnight Marauders	-	-	-	UK70 (1 week) UK	US8th platinum (30 weeks)US	First published: November 9, 1993 US sales: + 1,000,000
1996	Beats, Rhymes and Life	-	-	-	UK28 (4 weeks) UK	US1 platinum (16 weeks)US	Initial release: July 30, 1996 US sales: + 1,000,000
1998	The Love Movement	DE36 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK38 (2 weeks) UK	US3 gold (11 weeks)US	First published: September 29, 1998 US sales: + 500,000
2016	We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service	DE14 (6 weeks) DE	AT18 (3 weeks) AT	CH12 (11 weeks) CH	UK24 (4 weeks) UK	US1 gold (15 weeks)US	Initial release: November 11, 2016 US sales: + 500,000

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1999	The Anthology	-	-	-	-	US81 (6 weeks) US	First published: October 26, 1999
2003	Hits, rarities & remixes	-	-	-	-	US190 (1 week) US	First published: June 17, 2003

More compilations

• 1992: Revised Quest for the Seasoned Traveler
• 2006: The Lost Tribes
• 2008: The Best of A Tribe Called Quest

EPs

• 1995: A Tribe Called Quest EP

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1990	Bonita Applebum People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm	-	-	-	UK47 (3 weeks) UK	-
1991	Can I Kick It? People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm	-	-	-	UK15th silver (7 weeks)UK	-
	I Left My Wallet in El Segundo People’s Instinctive Remixes	-	-	-	UK86 (1 week) UK	-	Remix by Norman Cook
1992	Scenario The Low End Theory	-	-	-	-	US57 (15 weeks) US	feat. Leaders of the New School
1993	Award Tour Midnight Marauders	-	-	-	-	US47 (18 weeks) US
1994	Electric Relaxation Midnight Marauders	-	-	-	-	US65 (9 weeks) US
	Oh My God Midnight Marauders	-	-	-	UK81 (2 weeks) UK	-	feat. Busta Rhymes
1996	1nce Again Beats, Rhymes and Life	-	-	-	UK34 (2 weeks) UK	-
	Stressed Out Beats, Rhymes and Life	-	-	-	UK33 (2 weeks) UK	-	feat. Faith Evans
1997	Rumble in the Jungle When We Were Kings (Soundtrack)	DE85 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK3 (12 weeks) UK	-	with Fugees , Busta Rhymes and John Forté
	Jam Beats, Rhymes and Life	-	-	-	UK61 (1 week) UK	-
1998	Find a Way The Love Movement	-	-	-	UK41 (2 weeks) UK	US71 (7 weeks) US
2016	We the People… We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service	-	-	-	-	US77 (1 week) US

More singles

• 1989: Description of a Fool
• 1990: I Left My Wallet in El Segundo
• 1991: Check the Rhime
• 1991: Jazz (We've Got)
• 1992: Luck of Lucien (Tom and Jerry Remix)
• 1992: Can I Kick It? (Boilerhouse Remix)
• 1992: Hot Sex
• 1998: Like It Like That

Awards for music sales

Golden record

•  Canada
  • 1996: for the album Beats, Rhymes and Life
  • 1998: for the album The Love Movement

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Canada (MC)	-	2 × gold2	-	100,000	musiccanada.com
United States (RIAA)	-	3 × gold3	3 × platinum3	4,500,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	-	200,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	5 × gold5	3 × platinum3

Web links

Commons : A Tribe Called Quest  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)
• Interview with Ali Shaheed Muhammad ( Memento from July 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
• Interview with Phife Dawg ( Memento from January 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• A Tribe Called Quest at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A Tribe Called Quest. In: atribecalledquest.com. Retrieved November 21, 2016 . 
2. ↑ A Tribe Called Quest to Disband After Two More Concerts on Rolling Stone .com, accessed September 5, 2015
3. ↑ A Tribe Called Quest announce their last album on Musikexpress.de , accessed on October 30, 2016
4. ↑ Daniel Sander: Fat Beats, Bad Blood , article from June 7, 2012 on Spiegel.de , accessed on June 7, 2012.
5. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: bugged - new music: with the tribe against Trump. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved November 18, 2016 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Music Sales Awards: US UK