Album Review: A Tribe Called Quest Inform Me “We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service”

Excuse me, as I send a love letter to Jesus.
“Dear God,
 
 Just when America thought there was no hope, thank you for sending A Tribe Called Quest to guide it to light. You work in mysterious ways, and you always manage to reveal  yourself in fateful, cosmic timing. Thus, “We Got It From Here…. Thank You 4 Your Service is celestial kismet.
                                    – Amen
                                      Diandra Reviews It All
A Tribe Called Quest just released their newest album We Got It From Here…. Thank You 4 Your Service, and it might as well be a love letter to itself. According to Q-Tip this is their last re cord, which explains why it feels like a greatest hits compilation. The level of heart that beats through its bassline and its lyrical foundations feels like a sign-off. Of course, you never know when a goodbye is actually final, but if this one is then it is a powerful one. With fellow, prime musicians like Kendrick Lamar, Andre 3000, Elton John, Kanye West, and Jack White featuring, all the original members of the Tribe, including the late Phife Dawg, come to give their words of peace on a world of chaos. 

A Tribe Called Quest – We The People….

A Tribe Called Quest has been a long staple of Hip Hop for their original use of sampling, their smooth lyrical flows, and, again, being one of the best social commentators on the black and/or impoverished experience in America. We Got It From Here…. Thank 4 For Your Service has double meaning for A Tribe. It is an homage to the empowering impact their presence had on elevating children/teens that grew up seeking someone to alleviate and accompany them through their social ills. Yet, it is also a passing of the “baton ” for future rappers to maintain the creativity and political prowess that Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi White, and Phife Dawg exuded in records like The Midnight Marauders, Beats, Rhymes and Life, and The Love Movement, which came out nearly 2 decades ago. Yet, We Got It From Here…. Thank You For You Service maintains A Tribe Called Quest’s are ageless and uncanny in their ability to be American society’s cool, reflective mirror. 

Award Tour / Movin Backwards / We The People….(LIVE from the 59th GRAMMYs)

From the rocking, raged stylings of “We The People”, where Q-Tip and Phife Dawg smoothly sing/rap the banishing of Blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, the poor, women and gays from what seems to be the world/America to the Arabian- R&B swag of “Enough”, if this album was a human being, its greatest virtues would be strength and wisdom. Anger, desire, confusion, love, and peace are all things that A Tribe try to piece together in understanding through 16 tracks that culminate in the most important one “The Donald”. As they have always done, A Tribe tries to show through music that each mind is a world of its own, and America has many worlds within it that are going ignored. Hence, I firmly believe that A Tribe knew Donald would win, and, like kismet, geared their album to be a  guide through America’s current realization of its division. For those that do not believe sexism, racism, or classism exist but our now confounded by “The Donald’s” win, A Tribe Called Quest are here to be your professors, and show you that Black History/ prejudice, itself, should also be included in American History. 

We Got It From Here…. Thank You 4 Your Service album through you in rhythms that make your entire being vibrate and conquers you with words that make your complete mind THINK! It is sincerely one of the best albums of the year, but as Jarobi and Q-tip lyrically remark, A Tribe Called Quest speak to/ for the world., yet are not easily found on radio or the charts. This is a true travesty, which is why I command, kindly, that everyone of my readers check out this record. Sonically, this album taps into every genre as emotional foundations for their word like the jazzy “Ego” or indie rock-esque of “Movin Backwards”.  I promise that once you listen to songs like “Conrad Tokyo”, “Dis Generation”, and “Solid Wall Of Sound”, you will buy this album. Why? Because it is the type of record that you proudly in your collections, and brag to others that you know A Tribe Called Quest or rather these societal beacons of intellect. To Buy A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got It From Here…. Thank You 4 Your Service Click Here.  Rest In Power Phife Dawg