DESTROY
RANGID
A Tribe Called
Ask A Tribe Called Quest about
all the bandwagoners and neo-
bohemian poseurs who've cropped
up and Ali Shaheed Muhammed is
quick to the defense. "We're not
looking for attention," he says soft-
ly. "The way we look at things is
that all music comes from a prior
kind of music, or generation. So if
it wasn't for that generation, you
wouldn't be here. To be doing the
Tribe Called Quest thing is kinda an
honor. We're in this for the music.
The glory and all that always puss
es. If you're in this thing to get joal-
ous, you don't need to be in it
Doing it for the love of it, for the
soul, for the groove. That has been
Quest's MO from the get go and if
it happens to sell them hella
records, cool. Pointy-headed critics
and B boys love Quest and they
dig 'em because Quest is real
Quest breathes and sleeps hip
hop, and you can't front that sorta
devotion and respect. And it's why
Quest gets so much respect, in
return. So here we are, mu, Phife
and All experienced writers know
that Q Tip just don't make the
interview scene), seated on the car-
peted steps at Jive Records, next
to the recycling area, and down a
bit from the water cooler. With all
the groovy conference rooms and
high-tech offices, why is two-thirds
of the dopest hip hop group
around, who have just debuted at
number one on the R&B charts and
number eight pop, sitting on the
carpeting doing an interview?
Simple. According to Ali, the vibes
in the plush and comfy conference
room aren't good, and it Quest
don't think the vibes are good,
well, then it's no go baby, and you
find your ass on the steps.
Just in time to save hip hop from
the gangsta lean bullshit and the P
Funk sample overdrive comes
Quest's fly third jam. Midnight
Marauders. The single Award
Tour features old Native Tongues
buddies De La Soul and is already
all over the streets.
The jazzy, abstract, positive will
out being cony groove that Quest
has always perpetrated is even
more essential today, as headline
after headline screams out about
gangsta rappers gone amuck. With
the sound of gunfire dominating
the hip hop scene, A Tribe Called
Quest reach back to their spiritual
father, the almighty Afrika Bam-
batta and the Zulu Nation, for in-
spiration and guidance/
"We try to install those values,"
Ali says if you get to know us on
a personal level, maybe that might
influence you on a more positive
level. We don't smoke, we don't
drink, and we don't promote that
crap. Maybe then with stuff like
that, the youth will see and be like,
Wow." Even though the dogs are
having their day. All holds out hope
for the more creative side of rap.
"It's about lyrics, and in the last
few months all these records hove
come out that are more of a lyrical
type thing and a more stylistic type
thing like the Sods of Mischief and
a whole bunch of groups out there.
As a hip hopper I'm feeling a lot
better than I was a couple of
months ago, If I was a father, I
would say is a father, but I'm not
But as a human being who under
stands life (gangsta rap) is kinda
messed up and it's not cool. It does
give the wrong perception that
people don't vale life and I'm just
gonna say this and get the money
and that's that You can't really)
blame hip hoppers 'cause compa
nies are out there giving them
money to do this, But," Ali smiles,
"if you really think that that's what
life is all about, standing on the
corner, drinking a forty and doing
your thing, you're not going to be
in this life very much longer."
-Amy Lindon
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