Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest Audiobook (Free)

The seminal rap group A Tribe Called Pursuit brought jazz into the genre, resurrecting timeless rhythms to generate masterpieces. This narrative comes after Tribe using their early days as part of the Afrocentric rap collective known as the Local Tongues, through their first three traditional albums, to their eventual break up and lengthy hiatus. Their function is placed in the context of the broader rap scenery of the 1990s, one upended by sampling laws and regulations that compelled a reinvention in production methods, the East about JUST DO IT in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Known as Quest Coast-West Coast rivalry that threatened to destroy the genre, and some record labels’ shift from focusing on organizations to individual MCs. Through the entire narrative, poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib connects the music and social history to their street-level influence. Whether he’s keeping in mind The Source journal cover announcing the Tribe’s 1998 break up or writing personal letters to the group after bandmate Phife Dawg’s loss of life, Abdurraqib seeks the deeper truths of the Tribe Called Quest, truths that-like the reduced end, the bass-are not simply heard in the head but are felt in the upper body. Digging into the group’s background, Abdurraqib draws from his own experience to think about how its special sound resonated among fans like himself. The effect is really as ambitious and genre-bending as the rap group itself.