Friday Flashback :: A Tribe Called Quest's "Check The Rhyme"

"Without question the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s, A Tribe Called Quest jump-started and perfected the hip-hop alternative to hardcore and gangsta rap."

So begins the best description of ATCQ I've ever read. And one of their best singles, "Check The Rhyme" is a prime example of their preeminence in the hip-hop ether. The Queens-based rappers had a burgeoning rep as innovators and creative geniuses when The Low End Theory appeared in 1991. This was perhaps the closest, best effort to date in creating a fusion of hip-hop and its freeform precursor, jazz. Ironically, the sample underlying, and providing the notional hook for the cut is the Average White Band's "Love Your Life." Hardly standard jazz fare, but it works. Perhaps it's the deft cutting up of that song that lends an improvisational, truly jazz-like feel to song.

Regardless, it's one of three classics to appear from this release. It's the kind of track that makes one wish all hip-hop was this crisp, lyrically, beat-wise, and sample-based.

I think it was this single that best illustrated Q-Tip (earning his nickname, The Abstract) and Phife's ability to play off one another, and deliver seamless verses that work like the two sides of the same coin: different, but reassuringly similar.

If you're a hip-hop fan, this song has got to be in your top-ten. If you're not a fan of the art, this song might just bring you around.

The Flashback for January 25th is A Tribe Called Quest's "Check The Rhyme."

A Tribe Called Quest :: "Check The Rhyme"
Album: The Low End Theory
Released: 1991
Billboard peak: #1, Hot Rap Singles

Play the Track: Check The Rhyme (to download, Mac users, Control-click, and choose 'Save Link As...' Windows users right-click the link and choose 'Save Target As...').