Welcome back to the hip hop history classroom ladies and gentlemen. We’ve got a lot of exciting news for today. Now, you already know that this is best class you’ve ever taken. But I also promised that it would be the easiest. And now, we’re making it even easier. Starting today, my brother Kennedy Hart and I will be making a Spotify playlist to go along with my classes. So all the songs and artists I discuss will be in one, easy place for you. Check the URL at the bottom of the article for the playlist. We’ll be updating this playlist with every article, so make sure you follow it to keep up. Now who’s better than me?
Our first playlist is guaranteed to be fire cause we’ve got a busy one in hip hop history today. Public Enemy released their third album, Fear of A Black Planet on this date in 1990 (Go check out my article about April 1st for more and Public Enemy).Dr. Dre released his first solo single “Deep Cover” in 1992 and introduced the world to Snoop Dogg. The two would go on to become the faces of the West for a generation. But I’m going to be selfish and take some more time to shoutout one of my personal favorites.
Today I want to send a big happy birthday to Q-Tip. Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (born Jonathan William Davis) was born on this date in 1970, making him 48 today. Q-Tip will go down as one of the best to ever do it along with his brothers from A Tribe Called Quest. Made up of four Queens natives, A Tribe Called Quest had some of the dopest sound coming out of New York throughout the late 80’s and 90’s. Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Jerobi, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad make up my favorite rap group of all time. Tip and Ali Shaheed cooked up an insane amount of dope beats for the group throughout their career while Tip, Phife and Jerobi handled the mic.The blend of jazz into hip hop will always be their trademark, and no one has ever done it better. Phife Dawg was the rawest lyricist of the group and always brought hard punchlines to a slick flow. Phife, Malik Izaac Taylor passed away in March of 2016 while he and Tribe were finishing up their last album. The rest of the group finished the album and it had great success, bringing that 90’s Tribe we all loved to the current hip hop vibe and immortalizing The Five Foot Assasin.
Q-Tip knew his way around a mic too. He had a ridiculous amount of flows and was always able to play off of Phife. The balance they brought to tracks is what makes their music so dope. It is all so simple. The beats are contagious and get you bopping. The rhyme schemes are simple enough to hear, but the lyrical content is sharp enough to make it hard to understand the first listen. I will never get tired of listening to some Tribe. Tip has also had some success as a solo act. He’s released solo albums and has production credits all over the game. He’s a true legend in the game, so it’s only right we show respect here.
Now make your way over to that playlist! We’ll have that Dre track, some Public Enemy and plenty of A Tribe Called Quest. It should have you set for the rest of the night. Check back later for your next lesson in hip hop history.