No Filler Music Podcast - Ep 32: A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory

Episode Date: March 26, 2019

​On this week's episode, we take our first dive into hip hop, and listen to possibly its most influential album, "The Low End Theory"​. A Tribe Called Quest emerges from the Native Tongues in the early 90s, bringing with them positive-minded, Afrocentric lyrics and eclectic, unique, & jazz-influenced beats. We also take a quick peak at the golden age of hip hop, focusing on New York's hip hop community in the mid to late 80s and early 90s, leading up to the rise of A Tribe Called Quest.​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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By the time the low-end theory came around, samplers couldn't hold all the samples that were the composite that made the song. So a lot of that stuff, the guys actually conceptualized in their head without actually ever having heard it, put together, which is really, really phenomenal. They deconstruct things in their mind and then reimagined and recombined in a way that never could have or would have been played by live musicians. And welcome to No Filler, the music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gyms that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. In each episode, we'll dive into a little history of the artist and the album of choice, with snippets from interviews and concerts, as well as music from the album itself.

My name is Quentin. With me, as always, is my brother Travis, and we're covering a tribe called Quest today. I'm fucking stoked, dude. Yeah, I don't think I've been more excited. about an episode maybe ever. I mean, really.

Yeah. Seriously, because this is our first time to talk about rap and hip hop. Yeah. A genre that really my exposure to it

is so limited that like now that I'm sort of, you know, getting into it a little bit, like I'm realizing how fascinating the history of rap is, like the history of hip hop

and just how amazing and incredible these pioneers of rap music were, you know? Yeah, dude. It's just amazing. I'm with you, man.

Like, I mean, you know, we can never be too late to the party, you know? Yeah, I was 29 maybe when I got into hip-hop. Like, when I say hip-up, I'm talking about like diving into old-school hip-hop, you know, like checking out the origins of it. Because, I mean, so for us, the music that we grew up listening to, the hip-hop that I knew was what was on the radio. So we were familiar with M&M, early 2000s Buster Rhymes. I mean, here's the thing.

So, like, I was actually thinking about this. Like, what, I was trying to figure out what our first exposure to rap was. And I think it must have been that song that we had on cassette tape. Oh, there it is. Yeah. That's our first exposure, man. And that was, that was early hip hop. That was early earlier.

Who was that? I think Spencer had, well, who was the artist? Yeah. I have no idea. Let's look it up right now. Dude, you're going to remember the name because they say it in the song. The artist was called Tag Team. Remember they said Tag Team back again?

Yep. Came out in 93. But the reason I'm curious is because, I mean, other than that, we were brought up on rock and roll, classical music just, you know, just by hearing it. and then like movie soundtracks. Those are the kind of things that our father would listen to, and that's the music that we were brought up on. So that's why my guess is that by the time we became of age,

when we were paying attention to music and stuff, like you were saying, hip hop had changed and rap had changed quite a bit, like the landscape and the things that they were singing about and rapping about had changed from the 90s. Significantly, they were talking, you know, about. It was more like the club type stuff, you know, like, it's getting hot in here, take off all your clothes and all that kind of crap. But, dude, I am getting a little bit too hot.

I think I am going to take my clothes off. What are you talking about? What? Dude. Are you saying it's hot in your, in your studio? Oh, my God, bro. I was just quoting the rest of the song. You said, it's getting hot in here.

I'm going to take... Oh, that's right. Come on, brother. God damn I mean I knew you were making a joke It just obviously wasn't very funny Yeah well I am getting too high I'm gonna take my clothing

Dude exactly So that's what we had I'm keeping that in by the way But like I guess my point is like There was nothing Lyrically that I could connect to Yeah Being from the lower middle class upbringing that we had

You know Yeah So, I mean, maybe that's why we were never interested in it. And we didn't have anybody to introduce us to this older stuff, the more classical hip-hop and rap music, you know. We just didn't have it. So that's the excuse I'm giving myself, at least. And we were just too interested and too infatuated and in love with rock and roll, which is fine. But I'm happy that I'm finally circling back around and giving rap and hip-hop, like the attention that,

it deserves, you know. Yeah, and like you said, it's never too late. So Tribe Called Quest. I'll name off the roster real quick, and then we'll get into it. So Tribe Called Quest consists of MC's Q-Tip. He was also like the main producer. We've got Fife Dog, and then originally we had Jerobie White, who shows up on their first album. And then alongside those three, you had DJ and co-producer Ali Shahid Muhammad.

That's a tribe called Quest. So for this episode, I kind of want to just dive into that era of hip hop around the time that they burst into the scene, maybe a few years before that. you know and then we'll build from there. So their first album was called People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. It came out in 1990. So this is right smack dab in the middle of the quote, golden age of hip-hop, characterized by its diversity, innovation, and influence on the genre as a whole after a submergence and establishment in the previous decade.

I'm reading straight from Wikipedia. So the Golden Age was around the mid to late 80s and the early 90s. So the previous decade being the 70s, that's when hip-hop emerged on the scene. What makes hip-hop different in the mid-to-late 80s, it became a lot more experimental and a lot more. artists were sampling from old records. And sampling in general, that's when it started to get heavily used, which is cool.

A lot of artists who thought, hey, I can get it in a hip-hop, you know, I can do this. They weren't necessarily formally trained musically. Or they didn't have the means to be trained musically or to play an instrument. But if they had a good ear for sound, you know, they could just sample music from the records that their parents had. Well, that's the thing. And go from there. So that's what I like about the history of these pioneers is just how, you know, it seems like with rap and hip hop, the barrier to entry is so low because literally all you need is your voice, you know, as far as like how you get your name out there and how you potentially get. started. There's this quote from, and I don't know, have we mentioned that series on Netflix?

No, yeah, but let's go ahead and do that, dude. So there's a series out on Netflix called the hip-hop evolution. Is that right? Yeah, hip-hop evolution. Yeah, so, so, you know, I'm learning a lot about the history of hip-hop and rap through this series. And they had just a ton of interviews from Well, let's give a shout out to the, to the main guy. Okay, the guy who's doing it. Yeah, his name is, the name he goes by is Shad or Shad. He's also a rapper and producer. He has a few albums himself that are really fucking great. Yeah.

So, yeah, so anyway, there's this quote from this guy. His name is Lawrence Chris Parker. He went by KRS 1, and he was part of the Boogie Down Productions. Yeah, and we're going to talk a lot about them, dude. So do you know what KRS1 stands for? I do, but not have to time my head. It sends for knowledge reigns supreme over nearly everyone. Well, there you go.

So you've got to have that attitude when you go into this. Anyway, so he had a quote that I really latched on to. He talked about, and sort of an anecdote that he shared, he said, you know, to survive in the hood, the average person on the street had a rhyme because your, you know, like your credibility and your reputation was tied to it. If somebody walked up to you on the street and said, you know, spit a rhyme at me and you didn't have anything, like your reputation is done, you know? Like, it seems like you're like, I think it seems like everybody knew it too, like in the hood. It's like, this is your chance to get out of the hood is like, you know, through rapping, through entertaining.

And he even talked about how like, you know, he got some attention from like a social services worker because he was homeless. and you know the the worker asked him like hey what do you want to what do you want to do you want to do you like what do you want to be and he said he wants to be an emcee and whatnot he like you know gave him like a line like you know and then the guy said hey i'm i'm i'm uh what's the guy's name the rock guy dwayne johnson no motherfucker no no dway the rick the guy that he was partners with yeah scott la rock so scott la rock that was his social worker and he he he's He took him to the club that night because he said, hey, I'm a rapper. Whatever.

So anyway, they're there and, you know, they're kind of like competing with these other guys or whatever. You know how they did these rap battles, right? Yeah. So he basically said to these guys, like he put it this way, like, his bread was on the line. As in like, he said, y'all look like you all ate today. You all looked like you had breakfast and I didn't. I slept on the train today. and if I win, I don't have to sleep on the train anymore.

There's nothing you can rhyme or say they can take away my hunger. As in like, that's what these guys, you know, that's how seriously these guys took their craft, you know, and their rap and the way that they were, you know, throwing these words together and these rhymes together. It's like this was their ticket out, you know what I mean? And that's why I find that fascinating, you know, you really didn't have to, like you said, you didn't have to be trained in this. all you got to do is be lyrically you know be able to string some words together and tell a story through your rhymes and like be able to think on the spot and stuff and like you could you can make it you know you can make a record and and become successful yeah

and we're focusing mainly on um the hip-hop community in new york uh in the mid to late 90s I'm sorry, in the mid to late 80s, which I guess you know what, dude, at some point we need to do an entire different episode on West Coast hip-hop because there was shit going down on the opposite end of the country around this time. I mean, we could even talk about the ghetto boys, man. Those guys are from the south. We talk about some Texas rap. Those guys are from Houston. All right. Okay, ghetto boys are, we all know ghetto boys.

If you've seen the office space or the movie office space, like that's the rap in the very beginning. that the guy's is the character... I got my pistol pulling car. Exactly. The guy that... I don't even know exactly what he's saying. When he's in his car and he rolls up his window, whatever turns it down. But anyway.

So, you know, you're talking about these rat battles. And there was a nightclub called the Latin Quarter in New York City. Right downtown near Times Square. There's a guy by the name of Paradise Gray, who was the quote, mover and shaker of the time. He kind of just had his ear to the ground. He knew who was coming up, you know, like he, he just knew everyone. And I think he was also a promoter, too.

Yeah, he was a promoter for the club. So, you know, if you were worth your dime, you know, he would, his ears were perk up, you know. And I kind of want to focus on, we mentioned briefly KRS1 and Scottler rock. So these guys formed a group called Boogie Down Productions with another DJ by the name of Derek D. Nice Jones. Their debut album, which came out in 87, was called Criminal Minded, and it's considered a classic of hip-hop in the Golden Age.

The reason I want to focus on these guys is specifically Scott Sterling, Scott LaRocke, and what happened to him in 87. So he was shot to death in New York. His friend, D. Nice, who's also part of the group, was assaulted by a couple of men because apparently D. Nice had been talking to one of their ex-girlfriends. Ex-girlfriends, dude. and so, you know, they confronted him about it. And later, D. Nice, you know, asked Scott, you know, if he could maybe help him try to diffuse the situation.

So later on that same day, Scott LaRock and D. Nice and a few other people in the group all head down to the high bridge homes, which is this project's building in South Bronx. where the two guys lived. And the whole point of heading there was to diffuse the situation, you know. But because they rolled up with so many people, those guys were threatened. And they were driving in this Jeep that had a fiberglass top on it. And as they were leaving, shots were fired through the side and through the top of the Jeep. So because of that fiberglass top, those bullets got through, and Scott LaRock was hit in the head. It kind of like graced his ear or something, but he was critically wounded.

And they drove him to the nearest hospital, which was less than a mile away. And he died in the operating room within an hour of being shot. So this was just five months after the release of Buggy Down Productions first album. criminal-minded. That was kind of a big deal. It sent shockwaves through the hip-hop community in New York. Scottler Rock was one of the first guys, you know, that was kind of in the spotlight in hip-hop at the time. And he got, he got shot. There was kind of a ripple effect throughout the hip-hop community at the time. and they all just kind of had this like sense of urgency to do something about the violence that was going on within their own community. Yeah, this seems to be something that has kind of repeated itself.

Like, you know, when you look back at the history of rap, like talking about, you know, Biggie Smalls and, and Tupac, you know. Yeah. It's, yeah, it happened. It seems to happen a lot. lot like within the community itself. Right. So that same year, KRS1, who again is one of the founding members of Boogie Down Productions, he formed the Stop the Violence movement in hopes of encouraging the hip-hop community

to end the violence that was being committed on themselves. And he brought together a bunch of East Coast hip-hop rap stars to record a song. about anti-violence. And it was called self-destruction. And I got a little clip here from the hip-hop evolution series. It's KRS-1. He's kind of talking about it. And we've got a clip from the song itself, too.

When we put the stop the violence movement, it was to directly affect the existence of hip-hop. Hip-hip is not about the promoting violence. That's not where hip-hop comes from. Hip-hop is about peace, love, unity, having fun. Top it's self-destruction, you nearly ain't the rap audience just fucking. It's one of two suckers, ignorant brothers, trying to rob and steal from one another. Let's come to a show to unity. We know exactly who we are.

This is what it means to be conscious, to be awake, to be aware. Leave the guns in the crack. He lights all the microphone, wards. That was monumental. That was a switch in hip-hop that ignited that fire inside of us. What can I do to change these... horrible circumstances for our people. So, um,

dude, watching that episode and hearing about this for the first time, uh, I just did so much respect for these people, you know? Like, they, they recognized the problem and they realized how big of a problem it was.

And they immediately, they, they grouped together. I know that they had a lot of meetings at the Latin quarter, you know, with Paradise Grey and a lot of the other really important people within the community,

you know, and they talked about and brainstormed ways that they could change this. And, you know, releasing an entire song with a bunch of stars from the East Coast, the entire song is about, you know,

respecting each other and embracing their heritage, you know, like focusing on their African heritage. and just standing strong together and trying to put an end of the violence. I just have so much respect for that. Yeah, you know, especially since, like you said, they're embracing their heritage, you know, they're all, you know, in it together. And it seems like there's a kind of theme with like, like I was talking about earlier, it's like, hey, we're all recognizing that this is a way for us to get out of this environment that we're, in as far as like the violence and whatnot. And so when we're and this is again like we have to preface this by saying that like I have no no real history with any sort of an upbringing like

this. So I have to be careful when I talk about stuff like this to not sound completely ignorant. Right. But like what I'm saying is like it sounds like they acknowledge the fact that our circumstances are shit, you know, there's violence and stuff around us. So when we start to perpetrate that violence on ourselves. Right. Like they acknowledge how how counterproductive that is and how absurd that is really. And that's what it seems like these movements kind of come out from that. Right.

It's like we need to stop, you know, killing ourselves here and like band together, embrace our heritage. Like we're in this together. Let's make something positive out of all this. Right. And like we need to be more than just the culture. Like, you know, like we've got this hip hop. movement and it's this whole culture but like we need to we need to be we need to rise even above that and and use this platform to showcase our heritage a lot of people in the community at that time

started to take on African or Islamic names they really started to flex their consciousness they would start wearing Zulu beads and African medallions and they would shame anyone in the hip-hop community who wore gold or, you know, like excessive jewelry. And see, that's the funny thing you said right there. Like, that obviously flipped again by the time that you and I were like, oh, dude. We're paying attention to rap and stuff. And that was just in middle school. That wasn't even 10 years later, too.

Right, exactly. It was, it was all they wrapped about was the cars they drove, the jewelry they wore, uh, and it's the same. It's the same now, man. Right. Exactly. Now, I mean, I also, again, one of the, be trying to think about what why that is it's like you know they're celebrating the fact that once

again they have escaped their circumstances that perhaps they grew up and whatnot that's why they wrap about all their possessions is up it's like hey we we we made it you know we did it yeah you know I think about the same thing with um professional athletes you know you go you go you get right out of high school, you've never been financially independent or, you know, you've never had to live on your own within your own means. And you get handed millions of dollars. You don't know what to do with it. So you just spend it all and you show it off. You know, but it's, you know, these, hip-hop artists during this time were very conscious about, you know, the impact that the they could have, like the positive impact that they could have, you know, if they were more

conscious about it. So out of this movement comes the native tongues. And that is a collective of artists that had their main focus was on positive-minded, good-natured, afro-centric lyrics. So they were closely tied to the universal Zulu nation. that is a it's an international hip hop awareness group um originally and that was founded by africa bambata i was going to say like i recognize uh the words zulu nation from that song planet rock i'm sure he probably drops the name elsewhere but i was listening to some of africa barabata stuff

yeah and the song planet rock that he talks about zulu nation yep yeah so umbada was an emcee he was a singer-songwriter. He heavily influenced the culture of hip-hop in the early 80s. You know, so anyone coming up in the mid-to-late 80s, early 90s, knew who Africa Bambada was. And there's so many lyrics in a tribe called Quest songs where Q-Tib sings about Africa, Bambata. Yeah, I mean, he says his name explicitly. Yeah, and several times. in low end theory.

So Zulu Nation now, or just the word Zulu, now is more just of a general term for positive-based hip-hop. And basically their whole thing is promoting that hip-hop itself, the culture, the music is created to provide peace, love, unity, and quote, having fun. That's what they were all about around that time. They realized, okay, hip hop is, you know, we're getting out of the streets and we're starting to, you know, have an effect globally. Let's try to make sure that we're, you know, promoting this positive way of living, you know, peace, love, unity.

Yeah, because they were, they themselves were ambassadors of their people, their culture, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So the native tongues consisted of the Jungle Brothers. De La Sol and a tribe called Quest. And you said as well that you say Queen Latifah was also part of that, right? Right. Yeah.

Yeah. So we're not going to dive too far into these individual bands. But I do want to focus a little bit on the Jungle Brothers before we land on a Tribe Gold Quest. We're getting there. So Jungle Brothers, they are the first group that, did the whole quote pro-black thing without being too preachy and with you know and having fun with it at the same time um you know so there were a lot of groups out there that were promoting this you know afrocentric way of doing things in the hip-hop community but they were like really strict about you know like

like like we had said earlier like they would shame you if you wore gold jewelry but they were almost, not violent, but, you know, like, like they weren't having fun with it. They didn't, they, they, they, they weren't able to connect, uh, with, with the masses. Um, Jungle Brothers were their first, their first group to do that. Um, not only that, but, uh, their first album called Straight Out the Jungle, which came on in 1988. So again, this is one year after Scott LaRock died.

Um, that album was, quote, the blueprint for, hip-hop going forward. It was jazzy and it was quirky and it, you know, it totally went against the grain. After that album came out, the stage was set for hip-hop groups to engage with jazz. So, you know, at the very beginning, we talked about how, you know, during the golden age of hip-hop, a lot of these artists started to heavily sample music and they would sample old records. you know, you know, whatever, whatever their parents had in their, at their houses, you know,

they would grab those records, take them with them to the studio, and figure out creative ways to loop those beats and, and, you know, those hooks and trumpets and saxophones, yeah. So, you know, it made the hip-hop around that time, you know, very eccentric, and it kind of, like, bridge the gap between generations. Tribe Called Quest was one of those bands. Specifically, Q-Tip was really, really creative in his use of sampled music. That's another thing that really grabbed my attention. I think I always knew that hip-hop and rap sampled stuff heavily.

But when I heard Q-Tip talk about, like, and maybe we're going to jump with the gun here by saying this quote, but he was saying that because they didn't have that background or they weren't, you know, they weren't brought up with musical instruments. They didn't really know how to play. It's like these records, that their father's records, their parents' records, became the session players for them on the low-in theory record. And, you know, I just, I love the idea that, like, they, you know, they're gathered around, they're going through their,

dad's records, or at least Q-tip is, and like listening to their parents' music and, you know, clinging on to that kind of stuff and then bringing it with them into the studio. It's like they're bringing their parents' love and passion for music with them into the studio as they're making music, you know? I love that. Really cool. I love the idea of that because, like, you know, we can relate to that, you know, as far as, like, how much of a, we used to go through our dad's records, too, you know?

All the time, dude. Yeah, and I'll loosely quote Q-Tip. You know, this is pretty much what you're saying. So he says a lot of kids who come up doing hip-hop are doing so with the only tools that they had. All we had were records. We're making do with what we have. So we take these turntables and they become our instruments. Yeah, I love it.

And yeah, so I'm going to play another clip real quick from this is, Al-Shahid Muhammad, who again was a co-producer in these records, he talks a little bit about sampling these old jazz records. When a lot of these records were created, there were so many limitations and restrictions on their life. So the only opportunity that maybe an artist had to completely express themselves without being smacked over the head and thrown in the jail just for feeling

was when they got in those records and they played. So if you hear a Lee Morgan, there's so much in every note and the melody, the grace, the freedom, there'd be a few notes and it'd be the space. That's jazz. So good, man.

Yeah, I love it. So thank you, everyone, for getting through this with us. We're like over 30 minutes in, and we finally reached our first song. So I wanted to play the first track on a tribe called Quest's first album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, mainly just to focus on Q-Tips lyrics because it kind of goes back to that Afro-centric, you know, Zulu Nation way of communicating with their audience at the time. So this song is, again,

track one off their first album. It's called Push It Along. To Slydle, if you can envision, a brother who ain't dissinging this and that, because this and that was missing. Instead has been injected. The tribe has been perfected. Oh, yes, it's been selected.

The art makes it protected. Afrocentric living. Africans be given. A lot to the cause, because the cause has been risen. Some brothers, they'd be flaming. Flinking we ain't slamming coming off like the days when we used to wear the tan.

A blue collar talker Hemisphere stalker A glance of OJ and a 10 mile walker If you're in a Jeep and you dig what you're hearing Can I get a beep and a side ought of cheering? I am what I am. That's a tribal man. We all know the colors. We all must stand as we start our travels, things they will unravel.

K-sar-sera-sor-rah for this unit is like gravel. Won't be gone for long. Listen to the song. If you can't pull it, all you gotta do is Pushing along. Man, that is crazy dude, because as I was was listening to that drumbeat, I recognized that drumbeat from a, from a song, from like a trip pop song that I'm familiar with that I used in one of my mixtapes on for no, for New Dest back in

the day. Really? Yeah, and I looked it up and like, like that was the song. Like I, I remembered it correctly. It was this, this guy called DJ Cam. And the song is called Mad Blunted Jazz. Like, the drum beat was just instantly recognizable to me. So, anyway, that's just crazy. I, I love how, I love how that should have. So that song came out in 95. So it makes you wonder. Was DJ Cam sampling that drumbeat because he too came across it and realized it'd be a good drumbeat for his song? Or did he sample it because he's paying homage to tribe?

To tribe, yeah. Makes you wonder. Yeah, I just love, I love the idea. And you were saying this too earlier, how, you know, an entire genre spawned from, people who didn't have the means, you know, they didn't grow up, you know, in an environment that allowed them to learn instruments, but they realized, oh, I can manipulate these sounds and loop them. And all I need is a turntable, you know, and I can take these old records and I can, I can make new music out of it. You know, and that's still, that's still happening today.

Yeah, it goes back to our conversation about, um, about, about, dub early dub music and we talked about that's on our Tosca episode on our sidetrack for the Tosca episode yeah we talked about her early dub artists like you said it's what they had available to them it was a turntable and a collection of records and you could make music on it and i think I think rap comes from that because then they just started to rap over it you know right same thing but now we're rapping on top of it yeah so I'm I'm not going to read the lyrics. You can look it up, you know, but I'm sure you heard.

You know, he talks about Afrocentric living. He talks about the, quote, cause and that cause being risen, you know. It's all about the, you're just, they're just right smack dab in the middle of that, of that movement. And to put all this in perspective, dude, so again, this album came out in 1990. Guess what the number one song in America was in 1990? I know what the answer to this is, dude. It was vanilla ice, ice, ice baby. Yeah.

Which is funny because he sampled the David Bowie track. Right. The queen David Bowie song. Yeah. Under pressure. So it's like everybody, that's what they were doing. So it's not, you know, it's not like tribe was the first to sample music. No, but the reason I wanted to bring up the vanilla ice was number one is that like, I'm not going to pull it up.

but like, what were the lyrics in vanilla Isis? You know, in Ice-E-sized baby, what were those lyrics? They were probably super shallow and pointless. And, you know, bands like Jungle Brothers, a tribe called Quest and De LaSoul, during that same time, they were doing the same thing, you know, but their lyrics were meaningful, you know, and it was a whole different side of the hip-hop coin.

People's instinctive is just a really, on debut. It's really great. So, shit, man. We need to get into low-end theory. Let's do it. Yeah, we do. Yeah.

So this was released in September of 91. So just one year after people's instinctive. And, I mean, from this point on, really, we're just going to play the tunes, you know? We're going to focus on the lyrics and play the tunes, you know? I think we've covered enough history. I mean, look, I think it was important for us to spend some time on this. Like we said, this is our first discussion about this on this podcast. So obviously, we can't cover the entire history of hip-hop and rap in, you know, 30 minutes.

But hopefully this just gives some context into why tribe was so important. Yeah. And really for us, dude, I know you're in the same boat. what I love about this style, I guess, of hip hop and hip hop around this time was those heavily sampled jazz beats and saxophone and, you know, like. That's kind of what got me interested in like that was kind of the same. My foot in the door was through the jazz samples. Absolutely.

Because I love, I love down to build. I love tripop. like they had said about, you know, the golden age of hip-hop. What made it so special was that it was, you know, kind of bridging, bridging the gap between generations, you know? And like he said, these artists, these guys were just pulling records from their parents' collection, bringing it into the studio with him. Exactly. I love that. Like you said, it's like, it's bringing in the previous generation's music into their own music. I just, I love, I love that. Yeah. So Q-tips solo on the first track on low-end theory. He kind of introduces himself too. It's really cool.

So I only have one clip for this one. It's track one on the low-end theory. It's called Excursions. Back in the days when I was a teen ageer, before I had status and before I had a pager, you can find an abstract. Listen in the hip-hop. My pops used to say it reminded him a bebop.

I said, well, Daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles? Way the Bobby Brown is just amping like Michael. It's all expected. Things are for the looking. If you got the money, Quest is for the bucking. Come on everybody, let's get with the fly mode. Still got room on the truck, load of black coat. Listen to the rhyme to get a mental picture of this black man,

a black woman picture. Why do I say that? Because I gotta speak the truth, man. Doing what we feel for the music is the proof. And planning on the ground, the act is so together. Bonify strong, you need leverage to sever. The unit, yes, the unit, yes, the unit. call the jazz just delivering each year an LP filled with street goods you can find it all your rack in your record store if you get the records hey your thoughts are adored and appreciate it because we're ever so glad we made it we work hard so we gotta thank God mission out the plastic do the dance to your spastic if you dis

it gets drastic listen to the rhyme cause it's time to make gravy if it moves your booty then shake shake it baby all the way to Africa aka the motherland stick out the left then I'll axe for the other hand that's the right hand black man Only if you are noted as my man Then I think I deserve it If you're fake news Don't fix your mouth to word Intativity, not negativity If you buy chum, what's in that? What?

A pair of Nike size 10 and a half. I mean, yeah, he even shouts it out to his father, you know, he talks about, you know, my pops used to say it reminded him of bebop. I said, don't you know that things go in cycles? I love that idea, right?

So he just said, like, hey, he's basically what we just talked about how like things go on cycles like rappers from that generation were barring samples and stuff from jazz records and all bebop records and stuff so so there you go yeah yeah it's cool it up for us right there yeah the first line back in the days when I was a teenager before I had status and before I had a pager you could find the abstract which was another nickname for himself you can find the abstract listening to hip hop there you yeah yeah as you know You know, he just grew up on it.

And that's another thing, too. Like him and five go back to childhood. They were childhood friends. Apparently, they went to church together, grew up in the same neighborhood. Yeah, and they were, you know, rhyming together since they were kids, like literally since they were kids. This has been a dream of theirs, like a vision that they've been striving towards since they were kids.

Well, yeah, apparently they had rap demos when they were 11 and 12. Yeah, that's so I think it was. They had demo tapes. Yeah. I think it was Jerobi that was quoted talking about that in the hip-hop evolution episode. Like they had a manager when they were like 13. They released their first demo as teenagers. You know, they went on to say that they were already in those circles, like from early on getting their music listened to and getting feedback and critiques and stuff from people from all the big names.

you know, that's probably how they got into the native tongues collective just because, you know, I mean, part of it was because like he even said in this song about positivity. Yeah. Get in the zone of positivity, not negative. Oh, shit. Get in the zone of positivity, not negativity, because we got to strive for longevity. So just like we were saying earlier, it's like this is, this needs to be positive because, you know, we're looking long term here for what, what. what we want hip-hop and rap to be about. Yeah.

Yeah. And I didn't play it in that clip, but verse two, he says, we're on these excursions, so you must realize that continually, I pop my Zulu shit. If you don't like it, get off the Zulu tip.

You know, so he's like saying, if you're not part of the Zulu movement, if you're not part of what this movement stands for, then fucking... You can't claim to be a part of it. Exactly. Yeah. Don't wear the Zulu beads if you're not part of this movement. And then a few verses down, he says, especially if you rhyme, you have to live by the pin. Your man is your man. Then treat him like your friend. All it is is the code of the streets. So listen to the knowledge being dropped over beats. I fucking love that line, dude. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So let's talk about how different the sound of. of this album was because apparently this this album just sounded different than

anything else that had been done at the time and apparently they went into the making of this record wanting to make it sound like something that hadn't been heard before and uh the guy that we had a quote from in the very beginning of the episode that introed us in was the sound engineer for this record bob power right yeah and he talked about in the hip-hop evolution series about uh the challenge that was kind of brought to him by a Q-tip of basically like the challenge being how do we get the kick drum to have that huge presence but be able to hear everything else clearly at the same time so basically and I don't remember I guess it was uh what was the other guy's name of the guy that talked about them having demo tapes oh Jerobe yeah so apparently

uh uh Jirobe was saying that at that time like subwoovers and stuff in cars were starting to become a thing. Yeah. So you really had to like the goal was to take advantage of those subovers and stuff. And as Bob Power said, like the goal was to shake the Jeep, quote. Yeah, shake the Jeep. I like that quote, shake the Jeep. So anyway, that was the goal of this thing.

And like when you listen to the record, that kick drum really is just front and center, you know. Oh, yeah. It doesn't, it doesn't overpower everything else. Yeah. And I think Q-Tip also, like, says, you know, that was one of the main things for us was that, that, you know, low-end sound just, you know, being able to shake the Jeep was that, that was a main focus for them in their sound. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like Q-Tip was kind of the, he was obviously the mastermind behind everything and he was a perfectionist on these records. I mean, you know, to go back to Radiohead, it sounds like he is, he's the Tom York of the group for sure, right?

Oh, absolutely. Without a doubt. Like, he would come into sessions that they had been working on previously and just kind of scrapped the whole thing because he had a better idea in his head or something like that, you know. Yeah, and they learned to go with it because if he scrapped something, chances are that, you know, something even better was coming down the pipes. Yeah, exactly. Oh, yeah.

So one more thing before we moved on. next one because I want to we're talking about how how crucial these jazz samples were I wanted to mention every sample at least the ones that were that have been noted on who sampled.com which is a tremendous resource but anyway so for this song in particular excursions the bass line is a song by Art Blakely and the messengers called a chant for boo the drums a group called the Shades of Brown. The song is the toil I tilled for you. And then I guess we didn't get

this far, but unless you have a second clip. No, I don't. Well, there's this vocal track that comes in. Yeah, at the very end. Yeah. So that's a, that's a musical track. It's from this group called The Last Poets and the song

is called Time is Running Out. Yeah, and that sample is interesting. Yeah, it is interesting. Yeah, so that Sample says, time is running out on black power advocates in the day and white-thied supporters at night. Every time you see them, they're chasing some white woman with their tongue hanging out. Time is running and passing, passing and running, running and passing.

Yeah, it just kind of fades out with him saying, time is running and passing, passing, and running. Yeah. All right. So that's, we did it, dude. We got to the low end theory. Yeah, we got to one song. We got three more.

We got three more. So one change up in the band between people's instinctive and low-end theory. Jerobe White leaves the group. And that's mainly because he really didn't provide much in their first album. He was part of the group, but he really didn't. flexes muscles, I guess. And he was just kind of more of a, like a, what's the word? Like a hype guy?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it was a no hard feelings kind of thing. So then you just got Q-Tip and Fife. A big difference between these two albums, you know, Fife just gets better as an MC, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, a rapper, he just kind of steps up, you know? And then you've got this really cool.

back and forth with Q-Tip and Five in their songs, you know? So I'm going to quote someone here. I don't know who this is. I read this in an article somewhere I really liked it. They say Q-Tip's voice is simultaneously nasal and perfectly pure, and it might be too smooth for its own good. Five Dog's voice works to balance the smoothness, the way a bite of bacon can balance the sweetness of maple syrup.

I like that yeah me too and let's just you know kind of take a moment here so Fife Dog had diabetes he was diagnosed in 1990

he would refer to himself as the funky diabetic he passed away on March 23rd of 2016 due to complications with diabetes So Five Talks gone. Since then, they've released one album, which is actually phenomenal, dude.

It's called We Got It From Here. Thank you for Your Service. It came out the year that Fife passed away. And they- Yeah, and let's just mention it came out in 2016, so it's relatively new. Yeah, yeah. So again, that was the year that Five died. And there's actually five's recorded.

and, you know, he spits some rhymes in this album. Yeah. And, yeah, so he's gone. But, you know, there's just this really, this perfect balance between the two of them as MCs together. They're just a powerhouse, dude. Like, there's just something about, like, with Five Dogs lyrics, you know, they're super, you know, fun and goofy, and he rags on himself a lot in his lyrics.

So the next song I'm going to play is track four. It's called Butter. And Five is pretty much front and center on this one. So apparently Q-Tip planned for this song to be a back-and-forth, like a mic trading session, quote-unquote. But Fife wanted the track all to himself. And so he actually won that fight, and Q-Tip pops up in the chorus, but otherwise this is a five track.

So again, this is track four. It's called Butter. I thought I was, I vent my mat. Tracy used to love him, leave him. Skis got the crazy game and yo, I'm smooth like butter. It's like butter. It's like butter, baby. It's like butter, baby.

It's like butter, baby. It's like butter. So right there, that saxophone that you're in the background that that Q-Tip is rapping over, it's a song by Gary Bartz called Gentle Smiles Saxi in parentheses. And what's funny is like, you can hear another vocal track that Q-Tip is singing over in addition to that sax. And that's also on that record. So it's like they couldn't split the sax from the vocal track on that sample. So it's just thrown in there.

So that's Gary Bart's vocals. Interesting. I didn't even notice that. Yeah, there's a couple other samples in here. The main hook and riff that you hear in the beginning is a song called Young and Fine by the Weather Report. And then the drums throughout the track is a song by Chuck Jackson called I Like Everything About You. So if you go back and listen to it, it's kind of interesting to go and listen to these songs too because it gives you a clue into the type of music that was just laying around the house, you know, when Q-Tube was growing up. Yeah.

So, you know, again, in their first album, People's Instinctive. Fife wasn't really front and center He just wasn't in the right mindset He just didn't care so much He was quote having fun and chasing girls at the time And Q-tip You pulled him aside He says, yo

That's what it said You know I'm about to start recording this next album I want you on a couple of the songs But you have to take it serious and Fife kind of took that in consideration along with the last couple shows that they did for their first album he realized okay hey this this could be a serious thing

you know so Q-Tip wanted Fife along for the ride the whole time you know again these guys have been friends since they were kids you know they grew up together so I think it's cool that you know Q-tip is the main man Q-Tips the Tom York of the group or, you know, or the Britt Daniel.

But, you know, he didn't want to do this without five. I think that's great. You know, and their vocal interplay, you know, is what made them so memorable. All right, so we've got another couple songs to play. And Travis, we're doing verses from the abstract, mainly just because you really, really wanted to do this one. I love this song, but you, you know, we're technically. We were texting back and forth for this episode, and you said, man, we've got to do verses from the Amstract.

Yeah. So what I liked about this one is, you know, with all these tracks that have the bass, the bass line, the drum and like other musical instruments that are on the track are actually just sampled jazz records. This song has both a bass player in the studio that gets a shout out toward the end of the song and a female vocalist. in the studio as well. So her name is Vinya Mohica. She's on a De La Sol song. She's on a Jungle Brothers song. So they're bringing her in because of her, you know, her background.

You know, she's just, you know, basically it sounds like, you know, she was one of the native tongues. She was in that collective, right? Yeah. So, you know, she's just making her mark on their record as well, you know. Cool. I don't know if she had her own stuff. I mean, she probably did. Yeah.

Yeah, she had a couple of singles. It looks like she was mainly threw herself on to these records with various groups from the Native Tongues Collective. So anyway, and I also, I just like the, it's like the beginning of the song kind of has like this sort of like just, it sounds like Q-Tip is just kind of talking. Just talking into the mic, yeah. Yeah, so let's hear it. Yeah. So this is the next track right after Butter. It's track five.

It's called Verses From the Abstract. I had a dream about my man last night. And my man came by the studio. And his name is Buster Rhybs in effect. Shaheed is in effect. Fife did all. It's in effect. Check it out.

And give me my spec. I'm moving. Yes, I'm moving because my mouth is on the. Mota. Use the coast of the morning to avoid the funky odor. Can't help be your funky. I'm the funky abstract brother. Funky in the sense, but I played the undercover. Once had a fetish. Fettish for some booty. Now I'm getting funky in my rap and that's my duty.

Brothers tend to jock on a style in particular. If you got the eagle like some rublers, then I'll get with ya. But if I don't pursue, then I just don't give a . My motto in the 90s is be happy making ducks. Girls love the gym because it causes crazy friction. When it goes up in and fluctuates, addiction. I still understand the oaths because that's what I'm at up for. I'm hooked on the swing, so just call me the music for. Women love the voice. Brothers dig the lyrics. Quest of people's

choice. We're driving for the spirit. If you can't hear it, then get the wax utensils. Write my rhyme straight up. Don't get with no fancy stencil. The rhymes be getting sweet. We stay away from taught. A perfectionist at work, perking up the art. If you want to battle, I suggest you check your clock. Your demise is coming up, and I want your man to watch. Be the prime example. A deeper still the sample, insignificance, here I place you on the mantle. Born up in Harlem, reside now in Jamaica. The girl I used to rock, her mom's was a Quaker. And what does that make her?

The evil money taker, the crazy move faker, I use that to break her. Fife is in the house. Uncle Mike is in the house. By power is in the house. Tim Elatham is in the house. Wise men is in the house. The brand new is in the house. house the J.Bs, they in the house, and Jay La, they're in the house.

I must recruit my purse and kick the next one for my people. Please don't be deceived by the ugly sights and evil. The world is kind of cold and the rhythm is my blanket. Grab yourself up in it, if you'll love it, then you'll plank it. Don't move to rebuttal, wave your hair for action. Some women in the 90s want more than satisfaction. They want keys and keys and all those silly things. If you want to, I'll show you just what the app can bring.

I keep a tight net with my brother's Ken and Kenny If the question is a vibes Then I'll tell you I got plenty The thing that men and women Need to do is stick together Progressions can't be made If we're separate forever I hope this funky beat with the loop

And the feature Is the funky singing by Ms. Vinnie or Mohica So listen because the quest is... Yeah, so you just... It faded out on that last line But he says My people have been oppressed too long No more will we be down.

So again, like... It's about escaping, you know, their circumstances. I feel like that's a lot, it seems like with these early rap records, and it happens till today, like, a lot of times it's, it's this collective effort, you know. Yeah. Like he's dropping all these names. He even says De La's in the house. Yep.

He gives a shout out to it. He says the brand nobs, which is brand newbian. Yeah. Yeah. I just like the line, you know, they started to flex their consciousness in the golden age of hip-hop. And I pulled that from Paradise Gray, that promoter from the Latin quarters. Yeah, man, that's what that's what it was all about was just, you know, lifting up their people. Yeah, and it seems like it's also like all these name drops that happen in these rap songs.

I think it's done from a place of like, let me. make sure that I that I put get your name on this track so that you can get the credit and so you can get the recognition. Yeah, because like I wouldn't be here without you. Yeah. And that's why he credits the female vocalist. He says her name. And then later on, he says, you know, shoutouts to, he says, thanks a lot, Ron Carter on

the base. Yeah. Yes, my man, Rand Carter is on the base. Like, and then Ron Carter is even, he even does this little dating on the base, like with the name drop, you know? Yeah, that's cool. And he shouts out Bob Power, you know. Right, exactly. That's what I'm saying.

Mixed their first three albums. Exactly. So it's just, he gives a shout out to Uncle Mike, too. I looked into this. Oh, yeah. Uncle Mike is Ali Shaheed's uncle, Ali Shahid Muhammad. Apparently, uh, Ali Shahid Muhammad's first DJ experience was. He was using Uncle Mike's turntables at a party.

And they recorded their first demo in Uncle Mike's basement. So it's fucking great, man. This is what I like about it is that when you read the lyrics and when you research all of these name drops, it's like they are telling you the history right here, you know? Yeah. They're saying, here's how we got here. And I just love it because, you know, with rock and roll. you know, it seems like the lyrics are are less about

the band or the history of the group or, you know, when did you ever hear a Zeppelin song or something like that reference, you know, a blues musician that they came from, you know, that they borrowed from. Almost never, dude. Never, or just like a shout out to the producer.

Like, it just doesn't happen because rock lyrics are more, they're more, I don't know, It's just not about that because it's just put it this way, dude. It's a different context. I've never read the lyrics to a rock song and knew for sure, oh, they're singing about this is a legit thing that happened to him. Like every time with a rock song, it's like, okay, they could be, they could literally

just be making up a character and writing about a scenario that's happening to a fictional character just for this song. Never have I listened to a. rock song where I knew for sure they're doing a shoutout to an actual person or they're singing about things that actually happened to them. It's almost, it's like with comedians. Yeah. Who knows if the jokes that they're telling are based on true experiences or not. They make it seem, you know, it's first person, but you never know if it's, it's an actual experience that they've had. And yeah, for sure, they don't, they don't give shoutouts ever.

Yeah, exactly. And that's what I appreciate. I mean, they might do it like almost like, ironically or something like that. Yeah. You know, I think, I think Leonard Skittard essentially references Neil Young in,

I think they say his name straight up actually in, in Swedenham, Alabama or something like that. But that's because that was their, that was them reacting to Southern Man or something like that, the Neil Young. But anyway, like that's what I'm, I'm starting to appreciate and love and respect about

this early rap and hip-hop is that they are telling us. their story. Yeah. I love it. It's great. Now, there's a sample from heat wave in this song, right? Right.

Yeah, so let me just say that real quick. The two samples in the song, because, you know, I said earlier that the bass and the female vocals are not samples. Those people are in the studio. But, and he made sure to call them out, like I said. Yeah. And then, but there are some samples. The drums are sampled from a song called Upon This Rock by Joe Farrell.

and then the sort of that almost like a it almost sounds like a guitar strumming in the background is a heatwave song called The Star of the Story. Yeah, dude, just real quick, man, that's my favorite album of heat waves. It's called Central Heating. I know you're as big a fan of freaks and geeks as I am, dude. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I got it in a heatwave because on the final episode in the series, it's called Discos and Dragons.

Fucking, what's his name, dude? Jason Segal's character does like a rollerblade disco dance off and a a song called The Groove Line is playing from that album. Yeah, dude. I love finding out that kind of stuff. Yeah, man. All right. So this is, this is lengthy, bro.

We got ourselves a long-ass episode. But we're done. This is the last song we're going to play for you. It's all about the lyrics again, dude. I love the lyrics in the song. I love the whole. concept behind it, you know. Yeah, it's a, it's a fun song. The execution. It's, it's cool, dude. So, um, it's only two and a half or so a minute's long. We're just going to play the whole

song. So here is track 13. We're jumping down a few, a few, a few songs. Uh, it's called what? They're looking for excuses. Game for the buzzer who kicked it to the moose is lame as a brain can be golly g. If you see a shrink, he'll charge you are free. If you see me, you see the fear's nothing. We will feel, people, patience, all backs, no fronting. What is a party if it doesn't really rock? What is a poet or balls no cock? What is a war if it doesn't have a general? What's Channel 9 if it doesn't have Arsenio? What is life if you don't have fun? What is a what is a what if you ain't got a gun? What's I leave without Shahee Muhammad? Nothing. Kapoka makes you vomit.

What is the quest if the players ain't willing? What is a pince if you don't have a shilling? Excuse me if I'm chilling. Hey, what say what? What's a fat man without food in his gut? without the umbilica what's unita parcels without the deliverer what's mama's on without papa sawn what's martial arts without denia son what's rashi without tanya tamika what's orange juice a duggy dug without shinikwa nada nada nada nada nada nada damn thing what's dukeleton without that swing what's alex haley if it doesn't have roots what's a weekend if you ain't knock boots what's a black nation without black unity what is a child who doesn't know puberty what is my label when i exit room status what's monajitoa or that is what

What is sex when you have three people? What are laws if it ain't fair and equal? What's Clark can't without a telephone booth? What is a liquor if it ain't 80 proof? What are the youth if they ain't rebelling? What's Ralph Crammedham? If he ain't yelling, at Ed Norton. What is Coke snorting?

What is his position if there is no contorting? What is hip-hop if it doesn't have violence? Chill for a minute, Dougie fresh said silence. Is a Glock if you don't have a clip? What's a lollipop without the good chip? What's S&M if you don't have chains? What's a con artist if he doesn't have violence? What's America without greed and glamour?

What's the MC if he doesn't have stamina? What's music factory without Mr. Walt? What's true glory without a phrase called talk? What's Chris Lighty if he wasn't such a baby? What is a woman if she didn't say maybe? Maybe laid down. I removed the frown. What would be my penal cord if it wasn't brown?

What is a paper without a president? What is a compound without an element? What is a jam if you don't spike the punch? What's a bruskey if you don't bite brunch? Ooh, it's like that you keep going. Freak, freak, y'all, cause you know. Oh, because you know that we're showing. What digger, what, ticker, what, ticker, what, ticker what, ticker what, ticker what,

what, to go what, to go what, to go what. Oh, man, that's good. Dude, there's no point in even diving into these lyrics just so much. But it is worth reading this song in its entirety, man. It's so cool. I just love the, uh, chill for a minute. Duggy Fresh Sheds silence. Yeah.

And then there's the entire, that entire measures. It's like a four second pause. Yeah. So, like, you know, that's, that's balzy putting this for silent pause in your song where there's nothing but complete silence. Plus, isn't Dougie Fresh? He's a rapper, right? Dougie Fresh, yeah, dude.

Isn't he the guy that he plays a character in Fresh Prince, dude? Him and Will Smith wrapped together. I hope I'm right in that, dude. No, that's Jazzy Jeff. Oh, shit. Jazzy Jeff, I think, yeah. But what's funny is you mentioned Fresh Prince. Like I guess that's kind of another, we talk about exposure to hip hop when we were young.

Like I think Will Smith was probably an exposure to. I think Spencer had Big Willie style. I'm pretty sure he had that record, didn't he? Yeah. Well, dude, and you know what? I can sing the entire Fresh Prince theme song. Yeah, dude. From start to finish.

Getting jiggie with it. Men and Black theme song. That was all on Big Willie Smith. Anyway, the sample, the main sample that you hear. in that song is a song called Uncle Willie's Dream by Paul Humphrey. So if you like that little funky kind of like a guitar thing there. Dude, it reminded me of a, what is that song, dude? Bino boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, to boom to bon it.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, by Stevie Wonder. I thought that's what they sample. Yeah, that's the same style. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that he kind of popularized that sound. That sound, yeah. Um, okay, so that's it.

Dude, let's fucking wrap this up, man, because people are tired of listen to us. I feel like... I think one of the reasons we're also going this deep is because I feel like we're both sort of diving into this genre at the same time here and learning all this stuff, like within the last few months. Well, for me, it's the last couple years, yeah, but I didn't dive into it like this. Yeah. All right, so to wrap it up, I think I'm just going to play a little bit of heatwave from the song

that they sampled and verses from the abstract. So, thank you, as always, for listening. Hop on our website, no-filler podcast.com. We've got our show notes there for every episode. There you'll find, you know, more information if you're looking for it. A lot of times we'll post videos

and, you know, other links that we think you might like. Until next week, why you hop back and listen to some of our older episodes? We got like 60 now, dude. you're probably more than that in total. Yeah. Yeah, why don't you take a peek? We're going to fade us out today with a song from Central Heating, Heatwaves,

1978 album. Nice, too. Yeah, so this, again, was sampled in the song versus from the abstract, which we played earlier for you. This song is the star of a story, and we'll shout at you next week. My name is Quentin. My name is Travis. All right, take care.

Thank you.