Austere Rewind: Midnight Marauders
By Anteneh Gebre
Artist: A Tribe Called Quest
Album: Midnight Marauders
Release: November 9, 1993
When I stopped sleeping on it: Early 2012
Ok I had to switch the flow up on you readers; shit was getting too predictable. Welcome to Austere Rewind (formerly Throwback Thursday; had to #rebrand). By now you know what it is, every two weeks I’ll come by and put you up on a great album that you may have been too young to know about or you just never got around to. Whatever the reason, I got you. Now stop crying and keep reading.
Hi everybody! (Hi Doctor Nick!). I do that almost every time I go into a room where I know people. No one ever does it with me or laughs but I tell myself it’s more for me anyway. This week we’re going back to Queens to revisit a classic. No, not in the twitter sense of “This album came out 20 minutes ago and I liked the first few songs” classic, this is stood the test of time, still referenced to this day, still sounds good. Let’s go.
Midnight Marauders is A Tribe Called Quest’s 3rd album; it reached #8 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop charts. Marauders continues the groups signature of meshing jazz and rap but this album feels less rough around the edges than the second album The Low End Theory. The album’s not soft, the snare is still cracking and the bass is still hitting, but it feels considerably smoother.
I think there’s something about college that makes a lot people, especially hip hop fans, go back and listen to older music. The stereotypical “I only listen to Wu-Tang” guy comes to mind when I think about this. Or maybe I’m making all of this up. Point is, I got Spotify during my first semester at real college (I went to a community college for one semester then transferred to the university which I refer to as “real college”) and I think I heard the big single from this album, “Electric Relaxation” somewhere and that made me wanna go listen to their discography. None of their album’s are bad but Marauders is definitely my favorite.
Everything about this album is dope; the cover is one of the most recognizable of 90’s hip hop albums; it features head shots of a bunch of hip hop greats like Puff, Doug E. Fresh, Dr. Dre and a ton more. It’s 51 minutes long but every time I reach the end, I get that “damn, that’s it” feeling, which is infinitely better than the “when is this shit gonna end!?” feeling. The features are light, only Trugoy from De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Raphael Saadiq, and Large Professor are listed, but Q-Tip & Phife Dawg have enough flows to keep the album far from stale. I really love this record so y’all gonna have to indulge me while I gush on a couple songs.
“8 Million Stories” 8 MILLION STORIES!? BOY LET ME TELL YOU. THIS SHIT IS SO FUCKING INCREDIBLE IM GETTING MAD BECAUSE IM NOT SURE IM GONNA BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN IT’S GREATNESS IN THIS PARAGRAPH. In the first verse the five foot assassin (Phife) breaks down a terrible day with this addictive cause & effect flow I haven’t heard done so well since. The second verse is more random, but with similar cause & effect/bad luck lines. This song also has one of the harder, neck cracking beats on the album with a bass guitar that’ll have you replaying it two or three times before you go to the next. Plus the chorus has a weird stereo effect. PLUS THERE’S A 90’S BASKETBALL REFERENCE IN HERE. YOU REALLY CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO GUYS.
On the next track, “Sucka Nigga” Tip explains black youths rebranding of the word “nigga” from a racial slur used to demean black people into a term of endearment but not without addressing the problems that come along with this reform. There’s not much else to say about it. I know a lot of you reading this are super liberal white people, I can see you sweating from here. Relax. Just keep not saying “nigga” out loud and it’ll be fine.
Well that was awkward. Now for a feel good song! “The Chase, Part II” better be on all your BBQ playlists this summer. I’ll know if you don’t do it because I’m gonna be crashing all of them. ALL OF EM. AND IF THE POTATO SALAD’S TRASH, IMMA LET YOU KNOW FAMOTRON. Anyway Phife’s verse on this song is so damn good; maybe one of his best just rapping/shit talking verses ever. I love Q-Tip too but Phife never gets enough credit for being such a consistent rapper. His verses are full of dated references but they’re still fire to me. YA STYLES ARE INCOMPLETE SAME AS VINNY TESTAVERDE. Am I even allowed to mention sports in Austere? I hope my editors (the beautiful boss ladies I humbly submit my work to) clear this lol. ALSO Q-TIP TALKS ABOUT CLEANING A GIRLS ASS IN THE SHOWER. Totally playing this around my kids.
This album is a flat out classic. You’re doing yourself, your friends, and the world a disservice by not listening to it. Stop being an asshole and turn it up. (I’m just kidding you’re totes not an asshole if you read my stuff *smiley face with teeth emoji*)
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Originally published at austere-magazine.myshopify.com.
