A Tribe Called Quest Biography

The American hip hop group known as A Tribe Called Quest was established in the mid 1980’s by founding members Jarobi White, Ali Shaheed, Phife Dawg, and Q-Tip. The latter two had been friends since early childhood, and during their formative years growing up in New York, the two would practice and perform together, experimenting with an alternative hip-hop sound which would eventually bring them to fame.

With the additional members on board, A Tribe Called Quest recorded a series of demos which eventually garnered the attention of Jive Records. With the support of a major label, A Tribe Called Quest released their debut album, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, in 1990. The album featured the hits “Can I Kick It?,” “Bonita Applebum,” and “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo,” and has since gone on to become an alternative hip hop classic. People’s Instictive Travels was followed by the additional albums: The Low End Theory (1991), Midnight Marauders (1993), Beats, Rhymes, and Life (1996), and The Love Movement (1998.) The albums spawned the additional hits “Check the Rhime,” “Award Tour,” “Electric Relaxation,” “Oh My God” (featuring Busta Rhymes), “Scenario” (featuring Leaders of the New School), and “Stressed Out’ (featuring Faith Evans.)

Although A Tribe Called Quest was an enormous success, earning the group multiple Grammy nominations and ever increasing commercial success, the group disbanded after The Love Movement and individual members went on to pursue solo endeavors. A Tribe Called Quest reunited in 2004, however, and between 2004 and 2013 the group performed a number of concerts throughout North America.

Most recently, A Tribe Called Quest opened for Kanye West for three performances on his The Yeezus Tour in 2013. Although A Tribe Called Quest does not have any current plans for additional performances or albums, the group remains among the most legendary and influential of the early hip-hop era.