The word marauder came into English in the 17th century, from the Middle French word maraud, which means “to raracker”. Even these days, if you`re a looter, you`re certainly a thug – probably even a criminal. A looter doesn`t target a victim or plan a crime – instead, a looter is on the move, looking for ways to rob people or steal things. Looters often travel in groups and loot everything they can. Then we come to the most acclaimed track and the first single from the album. “Award Tour” always has the production quality we expect from Tribe and we are treated with a Trugoy from De La Soul. Since Tribe was at the peak of his career, it makes sense that they dedicate a song to their success. “Award Tour” offers us entertaining, captivating and perfect streams. The theme and content are simple and the texts follow this example. The production is amazing, with some samples from Sly & The Family Stone, Milt Jackson, Jade, Charles Earland and a few others, while Ali Shaheed brings them together to give us this incredibly fun beat. The chorus is my favorite part because it`s so much fun, but the lyrics in the verses also help, here`s what I mean, “Will someone tell me what I did to deserve this? Since it`s Tribe we`re talking about, and everything they do makes sense and is connected, I have to start with the album name and the cover art because ATCQ really outdid itself with that. Tribe meets us with revealing stats somewhere in the album (we`ll come back to that) and says that “7 times out of 10 listen to our music at night”, hence the reference to midnight.
The definition of “marauding” means “penetrating, attacking, or ambushing,” so we`re basically experiencing “midnight marauding ears,” which sounds a bit aggressive to these nice hip-hop guys, but it works because they live up to that claim. The album art, the way they recognize and recognize about 70 critical, amazing and talented artists from the culture, is great. Although there are a few different covers in circulation, each manages to stay true to Tribe and highlight the legends (before), we come to the tracklist NOW. The next track is “8 Million Stories”, which is one of the few tracks not produced by Tribe, but is still dope. This is for those who appreciate “solo phife” joints because it is above all phife rap. The track starts with the exact line where the previous song left off and goes straight into the rhymes. The bass and “95 bpm” structure mentioned in the intro can also be heard here, so it ties everything we`ve heard so far. As far as the texts are concerned, this is a more serious issue. Phife guides us through his losing streak and does so with a fantastic pun. That`s what I mean: ATCQ starts this album with the opening track, which is made in a unique way, à la Tribe: with a robotic voice that introduces itself first and prepares listeners for what`s to come and is also related to the album`s title, the artistic image of the woman on her album covers suddenly comes to life (albeit in robot form). “Hi, this is your Midnight Marauder program. I`m on the front of your cover. And then she does something clever, because she sums up the production in simple terms: “The average bounce counter for your Midnight Marauder program will be around 95 bpm.
We hope you find our presentation accurate, bass-heavy and fair. The best part is that it appears throughout the album, at the end of the tracks and in the outro, creating a cohesion that is unlike any other album. And as if that were not enough, this “tour guide” always drops a jewel-like insight and moral elevation. Tom Breihan of Stereogum noted that Q-Tip and Phife Dawg “sound smoother and more comfortable than ever.” Because of this comfort and chemistry, the two occasionally played each other`s lyrics during recording sessions.[26] Phife Dawg described XXL the “Electric Relaxation” session as follows: “On this album, [Q-Tip] wrote my lines and I wrote hers – in fact, we wrote our own lines, and when we recorded, we played. So, all the back and forth, do you know what I mean? [4] The first track and the most significant title in Tribe`s catalog is “Steve Biko (Stir It Up)”, as Phife and Tip use the reference to Steve Biko, who was one of the first black activists in South Africa and led a whole movement and was (obviously) socially conscious himself. Although his legacy is remarkable, for this reason (I believe) Tribe refers to him here. The whole album is about those who have left their mark on culture, so that`s fine. On the production side, the jazz that we loved so much in “The Low End Theory” is very present, the samples are reduced to a minimum and the funk rhythms are highlighted. The production is almost perfect, but takes a back seat to the chemistry of Phife and Tip.
His rap is absolutely impeccable and the change between the verses is (as always) transparent. They use this song and this fun beat to introduce themselves and name some legends and highlight this chemistry, here`s what I mean: Midnight Marauders received a lot of praise from music critics, with Vibe hailing it as a “rap classic” and NME calling it the “most comprehensive work of the band to date”. [38] [32] James Bernard of Entertainment Weekly stated that the album “sounds as fresh” as People`s Instinctive Travels and praised its “sweet and buttery” production and “quirky atmosphere.” [15] The Source`s Dream Hampton credited the band for “doing what they`ve always done – ignoring all current hip-hop trends and delivering a solid collectible,” adding that they “rely solely on their street poetry, Zulu delivery, and bebop beats” to attract consumers. [35] Songwriters: J. Davis, A. Muhammad, M.