what exactly was people's problem with the album 'beats, rhymes & life' by a tribe called quest?

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all the j. dilla retrospection got me listening to this again, and while it might not be on the level of the previous three albums, i can't really figure out why it seems to inspire reactions like the one in the allmusic review?

"get a hold" stands up to anything they've done, and the tip & phife dynamic is maybe slightly less zany and quotable than on low end or marauders, but still solid.

someone educate me please!

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 18:55 (three years ago)

I wasn't crazy about it at the time -- it sounded enervated -- but I've been listening to it again the last decade and hear its influence. "The Hop," "The Pressure," "Get a Hold" -- jams.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 18:57 (three years ago)

i have a feeling that by '96 the hyper-technical tribe called quest kind of flow was passé in the era of pac and biggie and their more commanding modes

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:01 (three years ago)

yeah i dunno, it seemed like the knives were out for it for some reason, but it's a good record

though i have never thought of tribe as "hyper technical" i see them as more conversational

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:05 (three years ago)

"hyper" was an exaggeration, but i always thought of the native tongues guys (especially de la) as technicians

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:08 (three years ago)

Biggie was probably the best technician of the entire 90s, but I understand if that wasn't always the appeal

west elm girls (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:10 (three years ago)

phife and tip's particular patter def feels to me more of an artifact of an earlier era, maybe technical precision isn't the thing that separates the '88-'93 era from the rest of the '90s

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:16 (three years ago)

If anything, the ATCQ aesthetic was absolutely booming in 1996. The Fugees had one of the biggest albums of the year!

west elm girls (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:24 (three years ago)

Q-Tip produced tracks on Mobb Deep's The Infamous the previous summer.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:24 (three years ago)

nevertheless, the album debuted and peaked at #1 on momentum

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:25 (three years ago)

fugees were much more melodic and less insular. there were other parts of their thing that captured the public imagination more than the tribe aesthetic imo

roflrofl fight (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 19:34 (three years ago)


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