The Low End Theory



The Low End Theory is the second album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Released on September 24, 1991 through Jive Records, the album produced three singles: "Check the Rhime," "Jazz (We've Got)," and "Scenario."

Conception
After A Tribe Called Quest's debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990), Jarobi White left the group to study culinary art. Phife Dawg learned that he was diabetic a month after the album's release and after a discussion with fellow member Q-Tip, they agreed to increase his participation on their second album and to "step it up in general as a group." Q-Tip credited N.W.A's album Straight Outta Compton (1988) as an inspiration for the record.

The group hired double bassist Ron Carter on the track "Verses from the Abstract". Q-Tip stated, "We wanted that straight bass sound, and Ron Carter is one of the premier bassists of the century." Carter agreed to record tracks on the condition that the group avoid profanity, to which Q-Tip assured they were addressing "real issues".

When asked by critics and interviewers if he was afraid of a "sophomore jinx", Q-Tip responded by saying "'Sophomore jinx?' What the fuck is that, I'm going to make The Low End Theory".

A track by the name "Georgie Porgie" was originally on the album, but was rejected by Jive Records for being "too homophobic". The track was rewritten as "Show Business", which was added to the album.

Music
The Low End Theory was one of the first records to fuse hip hop with a laid-back jazz atmosphere. Ali Shaheed Muhammad along with Q-Tip and Phife Dawg are credited with showcasing how rap was done before commercial success influenced many rappers' creativity. The album's minimalist sound is "stripped to the essentials: vocals, drums, and bass." The bass drum and vocals emphasize the downbeat on every track. Engineer Bob Power has been quoted numerous times calling the album, "The Sgt. Pepper's of hip hop" referring to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band released by The Beatles in 1967.

Reception and influence
The Low End Theory helped shape alternative hip hop in the 1990s. It established the musical, cultural, and historical link between hip hop and jazz. The album was considered an instant classic with a 5 mics rating in The Source. Reviewer Reef lauded their "progressive sound" and "streetwise edge". Writer Oliver Wang called the album "a consummate link between generations", which took the essence of jazz and hip hop, and "showing they originated from the same black center." The group's "mellow innovations" helped jazz rap gain significant exposure from 1992 to 1993. Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 154 in "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", stating that "people connected the dots between hip-hop and jazz -- both were revolutionary forms of black music based in improvisation and flow -- but A Tribe Called Quest's second album drew the entire picture."

In Time magazine's "ALL-TIME 100" albums, Josh Tyrangiel called the record an exception to jazz rap often being "wishful thinking on the part of critics". He described the album as "socially conscious without being dull" and likened a few tracks to "smokey rooms where cool guys ... say cool things." The Low End Theory was voted at number thirty-two in The Village Voice's 1991 Pazz & Jop critics poll. AllMusic writer John Bush, who declared it "the most consistent and flowing hip-hop album ever recorded", summed up the record as "an unqualified success, the perfect marriage of intelligent, flowing raps to nuanced, groove-centered productions." On February 1, 1995, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album platinum. In 2005, comedian Chris Rock ranked it ninth on his Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums. Electronica artist James Lavelle cited The Low End Theory as one of his favorite albums.

In a less enthusiastic review, James Bernard from Entertainment Weekly was critical of the music's intellectual brand of hip hop, finding "little passion at the core" and calling it "the greatest hip-hop album that will never quicken my pulse". Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was also reserved in his praise, believing the group delivered "goofball rhymes" from a "well-meaning middle class" perspective while writing that "like so many 'beats,' Low End Theory's Ron Carter bass was really a glorified sound effect—what excited its admirers wasn't its thrust, or even the thrill of the sound itself, so much as the classiness it signified." He named "Check the Rhime" and "Buggin' Out" as highlights while giving the album a three-star honorable mention, indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure".

The Australian hip hop group Hilltop Hoods sampled the words "Back in the days when I was a teenager" from "Excursions" in their song "Circuit Breaker", from that group's 2006 album The Hard Road.

Track listing

 * All songs produced by A Tribe Called Quest, except tracks 6 and 10 produced by Skeff Anselm and co-produced by A Tribe Called Quest.

Samples
Excursions Buggin' Out Rap Promoter Butter Verses from the Abstract Show Business Vibes and Stuff
 * "A Chant for Bu" by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
 * "The Soil I Tilled for You" by Shades of Brown
 * "Time Is Running Out" by The Last Poets
 * "Minya's the Mooch" by Jack DeJohnette
 * "Spinning Wheel" by Lonnie Smith
 * "Long Way Down" by Eric Mercury
 * "Keep on Doin' It" by The New Birth
 * "Young and Fine" by Weather Report
 * "I Like Everything About You" by Chuck Jackson
 * "Gentle Smiles" by Gary Bartz
 * "Upon This Rock" by Joe Farrell
 * "The Star of a Story" by Heatwave
 * "Funky President" by James Brown
 * "Wicki Wacky" by The Fatback Band
 * "Rock Steady" by Aretha Franklin
 * "Mandamentos Black" by Gerson King Combo
 * "Midnight Cowboy" by Ferrante & Teicher
 * "Down Here on the Ground" by Grant Green

The Infamous Date Rape Check the Rhime Everything Is Fair Jazz (We've Got) Skypager What? Scenario
 * "Is It Him or Me" by Jackie Jackson
 * "The Steam Drill" by Cannonball Adderley
 * "Hydra" by Grover Washington, Jr.
 * "Love Your Life" by Average White Band
 * "Hihache" by Lafayette Afro Rock Band
 * "I'm Just a Rock 'N' Roller" by Dalton and Dubarri
 * "Baby, This Love I Have" by Minnie Riperton
 * "Nobody Beats the Biz" by Biz Markie
 * "Let's Take It to the People" by Funkadelic
 * "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Don't Knock My Love" by Willis Jackson
 * "Green Dolphin Street" by Jimmy McGriff
 * "Don't Change Your Love" by Five Stairsteps
 * "Advice" by Sly & the Family Stone
 * "17 West" by Eric Dolphy
 * "Uncle Willie's Dream" by Paul Humphrey
 * "Oblighetto" by Brother Jack McDuff
 * "Little Miss Lover" by Jimi Hendrix

Accolades

 * An asterisk (*) designates lists which are unordered.

Personnel
Information is taken from Allmusic.
 * Performance credits
 * Bass – Ron Carter
 * DJ – Ali Shaheed Muhammad
 * Vocals – Phife Dawg, Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Charlie Brown, Diamond D, Dinco D, Lord Jamar, Sadat X


 * Technical credits


 * Arrangement – A Tribe Called Quest
 * Design – Zombart JK
 * Engineering – Pete Christensen, Eric Gast, Rod Hui, Gerard Julien, Jim Kvoriac, Tim Latham, Anthony Saunders, Bob Power, Christopher Shaw, Marc Singleton, Jamey Staub, Dan Wood


 * Mastering – Tom Coyne
 * Mixing – Bob Power, A Tribe Called Quest
 * Photography – Joe Grant
 * Production – A Tribe Called Quest, Skeff Anselm