Midnight Marauders is one of those albums for me. The Love Movement was slept on and many of those tracks were the soundtrack to a time in my life. I discovered great jazz music trying to recreate the vibe of The Low End Theory. I knew that Hip-Hop didn’t have to be just one way listening to People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. I didn’t check out Beats, Rhymes, and Life until way later and was surprised at how much I related. I’ve purchased albums from countless artists who directly cite Tribe as an influence, and then albums from artists that those artists influenced–the Hip-Hop DNA is strong. One of my greatest Hip-Hop moments was when I was able to get an on stage view of A Tribe Called Quest’s reunion show at Rock The Bells. Phife Dawg was instrumental in all of that.
Rest in Power to Malik Isaac Taylor, better known as Phife Dawg. Bless up!