Jan 2

Jan 2 7.

A Tribe Called Quest -

We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service

[Epic]

Eighteen years on from their last, it seemed like a new album from A Tribe Called Quest was a pure dream. This seemed to become a certainty when Phife Dawg tragically passed away in early 2016. Little did we know that Tribe had convened in late 2015 to work on an album, which obviously was complicated by Phife’s health issues, but would eventually see the light of day in late 2016. Not only was it a surprise that it was coming out, but it was a huge surprise just how majestic We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service turned out to be, after all those years apart.

What makes We Got It From Here great is well, everything, but specifically the way that Tribe stay true to their funky, analogue style, but also remain up to date, on the cutting edge, and gracefully take up their role as elder statesmen of modern hip-hop. We Got It From Here is not a lightweight release, despite its fun, fruity and fresh style. In the first 2 tracks Q-Tip and co. go hard on the current political climate regarding race relations; “The Space Program” making a deft allusion to black people’s lower status in society, and “We The People” lamenting the hate-fueled way that some people see people of different descent to themselves. The rest of the album has no fear on touching on poverty, racism, hatred, violence - you name it. But never does it stop being entertaining.

Of course, there’s a lot of fun on the album too. “Dis Generation” finds Tribe surveying their kingdom and acknowledging their influence on the current crop, like a torch-handing to the next generation (“Talk to Joey, Earl, Kendrick and Cole / gatekeepers of flow / they are extensions of instinctual soul”). They get sexy and sultry on the delightfully heady “Enough!!” or just flip around with Busta Rhymes and Consequence to whatever they feel like on the punchy “Mobius.”

Of course, while Phife is featured on the album fairly significantly, his loss is also a massive presence on the album. They pay tribute to him on the heartfelt “Lost Somebody,” and leave the dying moments of the album to his memory.

We Got It From Here is a substantial release, managing to juggle so many different topics – but none of them seem trivial or unwarranted. It’s a monumental and very special return and farewell hip hop’s all-time greatest group.

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Below you can see my top 50 albums of the year list.