Excursions — A Tribe Called Quest
#365Songs: June 30
It wasn’t a matter of “if” — but “when” I’d bring up A Tribe Called Quest during Sample Week. But selecting a favorite A Tribe Called Quest sample wracks nerves and causes cold sweats. Every choice is wrong. Every choice is absolutely right.
I whittled my list to 10 and removed the obvious Tribe classics like “Award Tour,” “Scenario,” etc. Despite notable samples, I wanted something that would make you go “hmm” or “oooh!” From the list that was left, I knew my choice instantly… and by instantly, I mean I listened to A Tribe Called Quest for a week, almost nonstop, before choosing “Excursions” over “Jazz (We Got).”
One element stayed with me, rattling around in my head.
Buh ba bum bum BUM buh ba bum bum BUM buh ba bum
It’s the upright bass sample, originally played by Mickey Bass on Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ “Chant for Bu” — recorded in 1973 for the Jazz Messengers’ album Buhaina.
But it was also Q-Tip’s opening verse that cemented the pick. No rap artist understood the symbiosis between hip-hop and jazz better than A Tribe Called Quest. It’s the essential identifying Tribe element, their special sauce and there’s nothing more endearing — as with my Day 1 Beastie Boys selection — than a lyric that references an artist’s specific methodology.
Back in the days when I was a teenager
Before I had status and before I had a pager
You could find the Abstract listening to hip hop
My pops used to say, it reminded him of be-bop
I said, well daddy don’t you know that things go in cycles
The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin like Michael
It’s all expected, things are for the lookin
If you got the money, Quest is for the bookin
Q-Tip, here referring to himself as The Abstract, cites his father as an influence on his production style — “(hip-hop) reminded him of be-bop.” It’s a purposeful opening track for The Low End Theory, which is arguably the first truly great Tribe album, seeing the quartet push further into elaborate lyricism and rap infused with jazz elements.
Once Tribe establishes the bass line, in comes the drums — a rhythm plucked from Chicago soul outfit Shades of Brown — a band best known in 2024 as a purveyor of righteous hip-hop samples.
Come on everybody, let’s get with the fly modes
Still got room on the truck, load the back boom
Listen to the rhyme, to get a mental picture
Of this black man, through black woman victim
Why do I say that, cuz I gotta speak the truth man
Doing what we feel for the music is the proof and
Planted on the ground, the act is so together
Bonafide strong, you need leverage to sever
The unit, yes, the unit, yes, the unit called the jazz is
Deliberately cheered LP filled with street goods
Tribe’s lyrics, the bass, the drums, these elements come together so seamlessly that it would be easy to overlook the craft and the care taken in their selection. That’s the beauty of the perfectly placed sample — when it disappears into the music, not calling attention to the artist’s cleverness but rising up together to celebrate the collective.
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