Of the Favorite 15s I’ve done so far, this is definitely gonna be one of the most difficult. With most groups, there are several tiers of songs: the pretty good ones, the solid ones, and the great ones. With fifteen, I can normally get all of the greats, most if not all of the goods, and hopefully just one pretty good. No such thing with Tribe. Q-Tip, Phife, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad are right at the top in terms of artistic consistency, with two albums, The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders being near the zenith of hip-hop artistry. I could easily do a Favorite Fifteen between those two albums alone, but I’ma try to include some of those other records, as well. I don’t think I can do this in any sort of an order, though.
-Find A Way – The Love Movement gave us the quintessential unrequited love record. If I remember, the video was pretty interesting too.
- Ham ‘n Eggs – This song is not on the list so much because it’s one of their best, but because I identify with it so strongly. And not their verses, so much. Well, there is that line, “Chicken for lunch, chicken for dinner/ chicken, chicken, chicken I’m a finger-lickin winner” that I quote a lot. But really, it’s the Nappy Dug Out sample that got me at first, then at the very end, when they’re doing the chorus to close out the song, “I don’t eat no ham ‘n eggs, cuz they’re high in cholesterol…yo Phife, do you eat em? Yo, Tip do you eat em? Nope. Not at all.” But they kick to Posdnuos, who breaks it up with, “YUP! All the time!”
- 1ce Again – Beats, Rhymes, and Life wasn’t a bad album, but coming after TLET and MM, it seemed like a more precipitous fall than it really was. I forget if 1ce Again was the first single (it seems quite logical), but at that point, having heard that song and the title of the album, I thought they were going to surpass everything they had done up to that point.
- Buggin Out – One of the songs that added a line to my self-definition soundtrack: “Not the best, not the worst and occasionally I curse…”
- Steppin’ It Up – Tribe with Redman and Busta. Prima facie fire. On second look? (And third and fourth and fifth?) FIYAH! Red closed it out quite well with the top-notch dismount, “me, Kamal, Bus-a-bus, Phife Dawg/ Shitted. Pussy niggas get Lysoled.”
- God Lives Through – To quote myself:
Phife won. In the history of A Tribe Called Quest, this is the only song I ever heard where I thought had the better verse. But this one right here? Phife brought it exceptionally well and Tip didn’t. With the exception of Butter, this might be Phife’s all-time best verse. Seriously, to this day, I don’t even know if I can quote Q-Tip’s verse because I kept rewinding Phife. That’s never happened. Even onea my homeboys who can’t stand Phife had to give it up that Phife owns this song.
- What? – This song probably gets a lotta run from me simply because of the song it precedes, but it’s a good one on its own. I definitely like the fact that it runs a string of questions, ranging from the obvious to the philosophical.
- Midnight – This is an absolutely great song. The first verse, detailings the night time activities of a random dude, is executed with great detail and precision. Not a traditional story in the sense of there being a plot, it’s more of a slice of life, and exactly the type of thing you would expect to hear on a Tribe record.
- Can I Kick It (Spirit Mix) – This was the first Tribe song that got me open. “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo” was interesting, but it wasn’t really killin me. But Can I Kick It? Absolutely. I think one of my bigger disappointments up to that point in my life was getting the tape and hearing that the album version wasn’t the same one that was on the video. The Spirit Mix is the video version, with the little scratching sound.
- Keep It Rollin’ The star of this joint is the Large Professor’s track, based on “Feel Like Making Love,” as recorded by the great Bob James. It’s an absolutely gorgeous track, perfect for cleaning the house on a cloudy, cool day.
- Butter – Phife came off. He had a solo on most of their albums, but this was by far his best work in the group. He killed this joint. And that track? The track is good business.
- Check The Rhime – What! This joint here? This joint right here, homey? Ugh. This was one of the joints that made Tribe move up the rankings with the quickness. Phife put in a solid performance, Tip repped as usual, and of course, the track with the Average White Band sample is crazy.
And these next three are why I can’t rate Tribe records. You can’t have three number ones, but you tell me which is > the others… So we’ll just do it chronological order.
- Bonita Applebaum – One of the first hip-hop love records that didn’t come off as being overly sentimental or corny. This joint is uncommonly good. Cold-blooded, even. The track? Perfect.
- Scenario – There are songs I listen to more at a given time, but there’s just not a better song. There are some that are as good, but I can’t think of any that are better. Every. Single. Thing. about this song is just right. Lyrically, for me, it’s all about Dinco D and Busta. Busta’s whole career comes back to this song.
- Electric Relaxation They blacked out on this. The lyrics are fine, but combining them with the track? There is no escaping it. Hearing it for the first time was like crossing an event horizon. As I said with Bonita Applebaum, there are some songs that are its peer, but none is its superior.
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