Beats, Rhymes and Life
Price 8.99 - 20.35 USD
Tribe"s fourth album, Beats, Rhymes, and Life, should be the awkward one, the album on which the group, growing up, falters a little as it figures out what it"s going to do next. It isn"t. Marked by a number of changes, both internally (this is the album on which the Ummah production crew takes over, and it also marks Q-Tip"s new religious faith) and externally (by 1996 Quest"s jazzy approach to hip-hop had fallen out of popular favor), Beats finds Tribe taking it as it comes and handling all of the challenges with flair. It"s a slower, steadier album than either People"s Instinctive Travels or The Low End Theory, but that"s a description, not a complaint; rather, it gives you plenty of time to enjoy jams like "1nce Again." It doesn"t hurt that Q-Tip and Phife Dog are feeling the flow here; an inspired pairing with distinctive voices and different strengths, they trade verses with fluid grace. --Randy Silver