The Low End Theory

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The Low End Theory
Studio album from A Tribe Called Quest

Publication
(s)

September 24, 1991

Label (s) Jive Records

Format (s)

CD , LP , MC

Genre (s)

East coast hip hop , jazz rap

Title (number)

14th

running time

48:03

occupation
  • Jarobi White - MC

production

A Tribe Called Quest , Skeff Anselm (Track 6 and 10)

Studio (s)

chronology
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
(1990) 		The Low End Theory Midnight Marauders
(1993)
Single releases
September 9, 1991 Check the rhime
November 27, 1991 Jazz (We've Got)
March 13, 1992 Scenario

The Low End Theory is the second studio album by the American hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest . It was released on September 24, 1991 on the Jive Records label .

Music genre

The album is considered one of the most important hip-hop records. The mixture of playful, occasionally comical texts, everyday material, political statements in connection with some live jazz elements and unusual, elegantly restrained samples made The Low End Theory an influential record far beyond hip-hop.

The beats over which the raps of Q-Tip and Phife Dawg lay improvising and sometimes unexpectedly offset, marked a decisive contrast between the developing G-Funk of West Coast Rap and East Coast Rap . Jazz bassist Ron Carter played on "Verses from the Abstract" .

Meaning of the lyrics

Thematically, the texts revolve around the exploitation of hip-hop by the music industry (so on “Rap Promoter” and “Show Business”), violence and gender relations (“The Infamous Date Rape”) and violence in hip hop (“Vibes and Stuff ”) as well as the pure, free beauty of music (“ Jazz (We've Got) ”,“ Butter ”).

meaning

source rating
Allmusic
The Source
Spin
Music Express
Laut.de

The piece "Scenario" helped the rapper Busta Rhymes to break through, not least through the video. Busta Rhymes was still a member of the Leaders of the New School group at the time , but shortly afterwards sought a solo career.

The Low End Theory was chosen by the music magazine Spex as the most important album of the year and in 2000 it was ranked 10th of the 100 records of the century . The record also appears regularly in the top 100 of the most important and influential pop records in other elections and reviews. In the US, the album reached platinum in 1995 .

The album was included in their milestone series by the editors of laut.de :

“It took Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White - who left the troupe after the debut 'People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm' - just three years to position himself at the top of the Olympus of Hip Hop. No less than three milestones appeared in this short period of time in the early 1990s. And yet a part of this trilogy is enthroned above everything. The second album 'The Low End Theory' was supposed to change hip hop and shape it in a lasting way. It is still considered by many to be the best album the genre has to offer. "

- David Hilzendegen

The magazine Rolling Stone leads The Low End Theory at number 153 of the 500 best albums of all time and ranked 36 of the 100 best albums of the nineties. The German-language edition of the magazine chose the album as number 2 of the 50 best hip-hop albums.

Pitchfork Media lists The Low End Theory at # 56 on the Top 100 Albums of the 1990s. Spin magazine ranked it 32nd among the top 90 albums of the decade.

The Low End Theory is one of the 1001 albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

Samples

The album contains numerous samples from different musical styles such as funk , jazz and soul . The Last Poets, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix were sampled .

Track list

  1. Excursions (Q-Tip) - 3:53
  2. Buggin 'Out (Muhammed / Phife Dawg / Q Tip) - 3:38
  3. Rap Promoter (Muhammed / Q Tip) - 2:13
  4. Butter (Muhammad / Q Tip) - 3:39
  5. Verses from the Abstract (Q Tip) - 3:59
  6. Show Business (Ali / Anselm / Dechalus / Kirkland / Murphy / Q Tip) (feat.Lord Jamar, Diamond D & Sadat X) - 3:53
  7. Vibes and Stuff (Phife Dawg / Q Tip) - 4:18
  8. The Infamous Date Rape (Muhammad / Phife Dawg / Q Tip) - 2:54
  9. Check the Rhime (Ali / Phife Dawg / Q Tip) - 3:36
  10. Everything Is Fair (Ali / Anselm / Phife Dawg / Q Tip) - 2:59
  11. Jazz (We've Got) (Ali / Phife Dawg / Q Tip) - 4:09
  12. Skypager (Ali / Phife Dawg / Q Tip) - 2:13
  13. What? (Q Tip) - 2:29
  14. Scenario (Higgins / Jackson / Muhammad / Phife Dawg / Q Tip / Smith) ( feat.Leaders of the New School ) - 4:10

Singles

As singles "Check The Rhime", "The Scenario" and "Jazz (We've Got)" were released.

In the charts

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - Album:

  • 1991 The Billboard 200 No. 45
  • 1991 Top R & B / Hip-Hop Albums No. 13

Billboard (North America) - Singles:

  • 1991 Check The Rhime Hot Rap Singles No. 1
  • 1991 Check The Rhime Hot R & B / Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks No. 59
  • 1991 Check The Rhime Hot Dance Music / Maxi-Singles Sales No. 28
  • 1992 Scenario The Billboard Hot 100 No. 57
  • 1992 Jazz (We ve Got) Hot Rap Singles No. 19
  • 1992 Scenario Hot Rap Singles No. 6
  • 1992 Scenario Hot R & B / Hip-Hop Singles & Trackd No. 42
  • 1997 Scenario Hot Dance Music / Maxi-Singles Sales No. 34

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Review by John Bush on AllMusic.com (accessed September 4, 2015)
  2. ↑ The Source: The Source Review , November 1991 (image) (accessed September 4, 2015)
  3. ↑ Discography Q-Tip, in: Spin 8/2008, p. 92.
  4. ↑ ME Heroes: A Tribe Called Quest, in: Musikexpress 3/2017, No. 735, p. 75.
  5. ↑ a b The Low End Theory. laut.de, accessed on February 15, 2015 .
  6. ↑ 100 Best Albums of the Nineties: # 36 on RollingStone.com, accessed September 4, 2015
  7. ↑ Rolling Stone Magazine, Issue 251 (September 2015), p. 61
  8. ↑ Top 100 Albums of the 1990s on pitchfork.com (accessed February 23, 2018)
  9. ↑ SPIN Magazine's Top 90 albums of the 90's on rateyourmusic.com (accessed February 23, 2018)