At once nostalgic and forward thinking, mournful and celebratory, it’s a multihued album with a sharp intelligence. In what will be their final work ... Tribe have retaken their throne as hip-hop’s greatest band.
This is no nostalgia trip or callous comeback. It's a giant exclamation point on the end of a brilliant career. It's also a tribute to the everyman genius of Phife, a widescreen look at the record-making skills of Q-Tip, and most importantly, it's a pure, undiluted, joyous thrill to have the Tribe back and still sounding this vital.
It seemed like the best Tribe could hope for was an album that longtime fans would embrace, but excite few younger listeners unfamiliar with the group. As it turns out, We got it… is a triumphant defying of such expectations.
We Got It From Here… captures everything that has been essential to A Tribe Called Quest as a project – the focus on flow, the spirit of adventure, the balance of toughness and gentleness, streets and sky. Yet it also feels like an unlikely leap forward.
Thank You manages to do the damn-near impossible and sound both as urgent as Atrocity Exhibition and as easy and effortless as The Low End Theory.
Tribe carry their burdens as lightly as they did on rap landmarks such as People's Instinctive Travels and The Low-End Theory.
We got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service sees A Tribe Called Quest revive what they do best, and beyond – bridging the gap between carefree and critical, classic and contemporary, timeless and topical, return and departure.
We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service proves that after all this time, A Tribe Called Quest can, in fact, still kick it. It's a goodbye on a high note. Thank you for your service.
Through thick and thin, Tribe embodies the fully fleshed out idea of the Hip Hop their impassioned audience clamors for: work that’s soulful, thought provoking, and gripping enough to transport minds away from strife to another world sonically.
In the end, A Tribe Called Quest were all about beats, rhymes and life, and this album has that in spades. They may have grown older but their wit and skill with the mic have not eroded. It’s a real joy to hear these three men, particularly Q-Tip and Phife, get back to it like old times.
The memory of Phife understandably looms large over the project, but they honour their comrade in the best way possible by surpassing all expectations.
We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service not only satisfies its lofty expectations, it often exceeds them.
It’s warm, intensely musical stuff—much like everything Q-Tip has released in the past decade—but it’s a fitting frame for an amber-colored ode to a lifelong friend.
The result is We Got It From Here…, a return to form that is simultaneously triumphant and bittersweet.
They’ve managed to make an album that doesn’t just remind long-term fans of how great they once were, but that stands as a worthy addition to one of hip-hop’s more lauded discographies.
Backed up by lyrical content that has never been more potent and relevant, this album is proof that A Tribe Called Quest never really left.
One of the most timeless rap groups ever has returned with a record that doesn't sound like 1996, but doesn't sound like 2016 either. It's imbued with the same feeling of "Push It Along" that they've had from the beginning.
At its core, We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service is equal parts a wake-up call to America as it is a dedication to a fallen soldier. Phife Dawg may no longer be with us in the flesh, but his spirit, and the A Tribe Called Quest legacy, shall remain forever.
Walter: Jesse, we need to listen to ATCQ's last album.
Jesse: Aw, Mr. White, I haven't checked out TLET yet.
Walter: Shut it, Jesse. You gotta soak in the brilliance of WGIFH.
Jesse: But, yo, I still haven't hit up TLET, bitch.
Walter: Fine, take a sec, but hustle, alright?
*48 minutes later*
Walter: Alright, Jesse, done with TLET?
Jesse: Yeah, Mr. White, just finished. That was tight, but WGIFH better be worth the wait.
Walter: Trust me, it's gonna blow your mind.
*They listen to ... read more
I wish more classic hip hop artists were making modern masterpieces like this.
P.S. Black Spasmodic is such a B O P
First album I listen from A Tribe Called Quest this year and this was an amazing one! They are one of my favorite groups in hip hop of all time and it's sad that they separated...
★ The Killing Season
tracklist rating
The Space Program:10
We the People....:10
Whateva Will Be:9
Solid Wall of Sound:9
Dis Generation:9
Kids...:9
Melatonin:9
Enough!!:9
Mobius:9
Black Spasmodic:9
The Killing Season:9
Lost Somebody:9
Movin Backwards:9
Conrad Tokyo:10
Ego:9
The Donald:9
1 | The Space Program 5:41 | 97 |
2 | We the People.... 2:52 | 96 |
3 | Whateva Will Be 2:52 feat. Consequence | 93 |
4 | Solid Wall of Sound 3:43 | 93 |
5 | Dis Generation 3:33 feat. Busta Rhymes | 96 |
6 | Kids... 3:48 feat. André 3000 | 91 |
7 | Melatonin 4:44 feat. Marsha Ambrosius, Abbey Smith | 93 |
8 | Enough!! 3:20 | 89 |
1 | Mobius 2:51 feat. Busta Rhymes, Consequence | 90 |
2 | Black Spasmodic 3:03 feat. Consequence | 91 |
3 | The Killing Season 2:43 | 92 |
4 | Lost Somebody 4:19 feat. Katia Cadet | 93 |
5 | Movin Backwards 4:41 feat. Anderson .Paak | 91 |
6 | Conrad Tokyo 3:31 feat. Kendrick Lamar, Jack White | 97 |
7 | Ego 3:17 | 94 |
8 | The Donald 5:22 feat. Busta Rhymes, Katia Cadet | 92 |
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#3 | / | Complex |
#3 | / | FLOOD |
#4 | / | BrooklynVegan |
#4 | / | KCRW |
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