Our multi-post look back at the Native Tongues hip-hop collective resumes with the posse sitting at the brink of the '90s. Despite slight misgivings after reading William Bowers' article "Now What?" on Pitchfork and consequently feeling slightly shameful for indulging in nostalgia of this magnitude, we forge ahead.
The Core Strengthens
1990: In Part 1, we looked at the emergence and quick rise of the Native Tongues in the late 1980s. As the '90s began, the collective was sitting pretty. And the momentum continued to build for a while. To kick the decade off, the last of the three original core Tongues to release an album, A Tribe Called Quest, finally dropped their debut, Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. True, Tribe's next two discs turned out to be more widely acclaimed. Peoples is nonetheless full of funky sample-heavy beats and intelligent, poetic raps, mostly from Q-Tip. Don't expect a dance album -- this isn't 1987 anymore. Only a few numbers are suited for the dance floor. From the jump, it was pretty apparent that Tribe's music was more suited for late-night lounging on sofas. That didn't stop the Source from falling in love with it, giving it a coveted five mic rating.
Source summary review from Summer 1990 (credit: Press Rewind If I Haven't)
Tribe's first single and video from the album was the funny-but-funky "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo." Maybe it was picked as the lead-off single because of its De La-feel? "El Segundo" would not sound out of place on 3 Feet High and Rising -- no small feat given how out there De La Soul was at the time. Really though, Quest was saving up for round two, and blew lots of people away with the mellow, thumping "Bonita Applebum," an ode to flirtation supposedly based on a round-bottomed girl from Tip and Ali's (and Mike Gee and Baby Bam's) high school. The slow pace, a sample based on a Roy Ayers vibe riff with a nice jazzy guitar on the side, for the time, "Bonita Applebum" sounded very unique. Not something to break out your new jack Kid-n-Play dance moves to, but as some might have said at the time, shit was dope. Q-Tip dominates both tracks vocally, but "Bonita" was a perfect backdrop for his smooth (like butter) delivery. It wouldn't be until Tribe's second album that Phife really came into his own and increased his contribution.
1991-92: Speaking of De La Soul, the three plugs earned five mics as well for their second LP, 1991's De La Soul Is Dead. Unlike the consistently bright themes of debut 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul Is Dead saw De La making blatant efforts to distance themselves from the style and content that caused lazy journalists to label them "hippies," a tag that they were annoyed by. (On that Arsenio appearance that we posted in Part 1, De La looked put off by Arsenio's "hippies of hip-hop" intro, emphasizing the line about proclamations that they're hippies being "pure plug bull.") Despite the change-up, the Source praised the album:
The peace signs are gone, and the D.A.I.S.Y. is outta here, but the musical and lyrical talent combined with unlimited creativity and an ingenious sense of humor is still in like Flynn. As Dove proclaims on the album's first cut, 'Oodles of O's': 'Dreadlocks going out the door y'all.' Still progressing and proud of it. De La has successfully escaped being trapped in the sophomore jinx with grooves that are harder than a brick wall. It should put all the De La Hippie stuff to rest -- for good.
Prince Paul was again at the helm for De La Soul is Dead. And present again is a Prince Paul signature touch, the skit, complete with a P-Funk-style comic strip. This go, a teen finds a cassette, it ends up in the hands of bullies, they find it wack and proclaim, "De La Soul is Dead."
(credit: A Fistfull of Soundtracks -- funny article about the prevalent use of the word "crocker" to blank out specific naughty words during the skits -- go check it out if you have time)
Expansion
A couple of roles in the skit are played by guys who were part of the now expanding Native Tongue universe: The young rapper Chi Ali, who plays the teen Jeff (a character introduced on a couple of 3 Feet High-era B-Sides), and Mr. Lawnge, the DJ for the duo Black Sheep, who plays one of the thugs.
Black Sheep's first few releases were pretty much confined to the hip-hop world, but in the Spring of 1991, a video for a remix of "The Choice Is Yours" ended up in heavy rotation on MTV and totally blew up. It eventually hit #1 on the Billboard hip-hop/rap chart and reached the top 60 of the Hot 100. Pretty soon, if you were on a dance floor, there was a good chance that at some point that night, the whole floor would PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP!
Another act that debuted in 1991 and became affiliated with Native Tongues was Leaders of the New School, who literally exploded out of the gate with mountains of energy, serious flow and synchronized mic skills reminiscent of old school crews like Cold Crush. LONS followed that tried and true formula of three MCs (the quick-tongued Dinco D, unpredictable Charlie Brown, and bombastic, excellently named and soon-to-be famous Busta Rhymes) and one DJ (Cut Monitor Milo, Busta's cousin, who also occasionally lends his toasting skills to the mix). The mix of rapping styles and tight production made A Future Without a Past, their first LP, a minor hit and a critical success. Although they debuted on the Rubáiyát compilation, most people first heard LONS when their first video dropped for "Case of the P.T.A."
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| November 1991 Source review Credit: http://ifihavent.wordpress.com/ |
Black Sheep's first few releases were pretty much confined to the hip-hop world, but in the Spring of 1991, a video for a remix of "The Choice Is Yours" ended up in heavy rotation on MTV and totally blew up. It eventually hit #1 on the Billboard hip-hop/rap chart and reached the top 60 of the Hot 100. Pretty soon, if you were on a dance floor, there was a good chance that at some point that night, the whole floor would PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP!
Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours
Get More: Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours
Get More: Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours
Another act that debuted in 1991 and became affiliated with Native Tongues was Leaders of the New School, who literally exploded out of the gate with mountains of energy, serious flow and synchronized mic skills reminiscent of old school crews like Cold Crush. LONS followed that tried and true formula of three MCs (the quick-tongued Dinco D, unpredictable Charlie Brown, and bombastic, excellently named and soon-to-be famous Busta Rhymes) and one DJ (Cut Monitor Milo, Busta's cousin, who also occasionally lends his toasting skills to the mix). The mix of rapping styles and tight production made A Future Without a Past, their first LP, a minor hit and a critical success. Although they debuted on the Rubáiyát compilation, most people first heard LONS when their first video dropped for "Case of the P.T.A."
Of course, if that didn't make it to your speakers, the next one might have. Later in 1991, A Tribe Called Quest released The Low End Theory. The album was an instant classic. Tip was on point as expected, but as noted earlier, Phife really broke out on The Low End Theory, even taking his own track, "Buggin' Out." The DiDawg's opening "Yo!" on that track could easily be his symbolic announcement to the world that he was now at the party too. Plus the beats were innovative and jazzy (with lots of help from the great Ron Carter on bass) -- often pretty sparse, but to excellent effect. Arguably, Low End was the first great "after hours" hip-hop album. That said, a few of the tunes thump, including first single "Check the Rhyme" and later release "Scenario," a collaboration with LONS that ended with a memorable rhyme from Busta. The simple fact that Busta Rhymes -- not Q-Tip -- is given the mic last is pretty telling.
1992 was pretty quiet for Native Tongues as far as releases go. Chi Ali put out his first album, The Fabulous Chi-Ali. JBs had one song on 1991's soundtrack to the movie Livin' Large, "718 KIT," but that was it between 1989 and 1993 as they got stuck in the "not commercial enough" battle with their label over their third album. De La was working on their third album themselves. Tribe was still coming off Low End. They put out a very good (except perhaps for some un-PC lyrics, depending on your POV) remix of "Scenario" in 1992 that featured the same cast plus the late MC Hood (sad story) but was quite different from the original apart from Busta Rhymes' dragon RAWRR. Their next album didn't drop till late '93 though.
As time went on though, tension started to creep into the picture. The hip-hop scene in general seemed to be heading in a darker, more aggressive direction. And the Native Tongues began drifting apart. But that's Part 3.
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