*U.S. first pressing.
Contains 14 tracks total.
A photo of the disc is included in the RAR file.
Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Conscious Rap, Jazz Rap
Label Number: 1418-2-J
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile
© 1991 Jive Records
AllMusic Review by John Bush
While most of the players in the jazz-rap movement never quite escaped the pasted-on qualities of their vintage samples, with The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest created one of the closest and most brilliant fusions of jazz atmosphere and hip-hop attitude ever recorded. The rapping by Q-Tip and Phife Dawg
could be the smoothest of any rap record ever heard; the pair are so in
tune with each other, they sound like flip sides of the same
personality, fluidly trading off on rhymes, with the former earning his
nickname (the Abstract) and Phife
concerning himself with the more concrete issues of being young,
gifted, and black. The trio also takes on the rap game with a pair of
hard-hitting tracks: "Rap Promoter" and "Show Business," the latter a
lyrical soundclash with Q-Tip and Phife plus Brand Nubian's Diamond D, Lord Jamar, and Sadat X.
The woman problem gets investigated as well, on two realistic yet
sensitive tracks, "Butter" and "The Infamous Date Rape." The productions
behind these tracks aren't quite skeletal, but they're certainly not
complex. Instead, Tribe
weaves little more than a stand-up bass (sampled or, on one track, jazz
luminary Ron Carter) and crisp, live-sounding drum programs with a few
deftly placed samples or electric keyboards. It's a tribute to their
unerring production sense that, with just those few tools, Tribe produced one of the best hip-hop albums in history, a record that sounds better with each listen. The Low End Theory
is an unqualified success, the perfect marriage of intelligent, flowing
raps to nuanced, groove-centered productions.
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