On this present day in Hip Hop historical past A Tribe Known as Quest Launched their third studio album Midnight Marauders. Because the group’s hottest work, this album marked the peak of Hip Hop’s Afrocentric/hippie motion.
Other than content material, this album’s cowl is it’s most distinctive high quality. It incorporates a full frontal portrait of the identical black, inexperienced, and pink girl from the The Low Finish Concept cowl in addition to head photographs of a few of the extra well-known rappers of the time, together with: Dr. Dre, Afrika Bambaataa, Busta Rhymes, Chuck D, Ice-T, Kool Moe Dee, MC Lyte, Del the Funky Homosapien, P. Diddy, Heavy D, Too $hort, The Pharcyde, The Beastie Boys, and extra.
With this album, Tribe took a slight step away their heavy jazz affect to perpetuate a funkier vibe. Ali Shaheed Muhammad‘s manufacturing sounded extra on this album like one thing you’ll hear on the radio within the early 90’s (with a Tribe twist after all). The biggest change nevertheless got here within the realm of lyricism. Over their 4 12 months quest, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg picked up linguistic abilities that come full circle on this album. Their cadence, circulation, and diction all present indicators of enchancment together with the size and depth of their metaphors. Though this album options much less topic particular tracks than their earlier work, the 2 present that they’ve lastly found out the best way to intrigued the minds of each the Hip Hop trustworthy and on a regular basis music listener.
Commercially, Midnight Marauders is the A Tribe Known as Quest’s highest promoting album. The album bought over 1,000,000 copies inside it’s first 12 months, making it a platinum hit. It additionally peaked #70 on the UK album charts, #8 on the Billboard 200, and took the highest spot Prime R&B/Hip Hop chart.
A number of the album’s success is because of its timeless traditional of a single “Award Tour” which peaked at #47 on the Billboard Sizzling 100. It’s affect has spanned many years with the monitor being referenced by the likes of Wale, Kanye West, Frequent, Azealia Banks, and Justin Timberlake.
