Happy 35th Anniversary to A Tribe Called Quest’s debut album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, originally released April 10, 1990.
If you’re any sort of hip-hop fan, chances are that you hold A Tribe Called Quest in high regard. And chances are—especially if you’re a hip-hop fan of a certain age—that you have either their second album The Low End Theory (1991) or their third album Midnight Marauders (1993) in your top 10 of all-time. Possibly both.
Both The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders are genre-defining hip-hop albums. And, unfortunately, they’ve both overshadowed the legitimate greatness that is A Tribe Called Quest’s People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, their first effort.
Released 35 years ago, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is recognized as a legit classic by critics and fans alike. It features some of the best material that Tribe has ever recorded, and some of the best tracks in the history of hip-hop. Its only “fault” is that it’s not quite as good as Tribe’s two subsequent releases.
It’s strange to consider that one of the best debut albums of all time is underappreciated, but too often People’s Instinctive Travels is viewed as the first step on Tribe’s journey rather than its own powerful artistic statement. It is the best executed of the first albums from the initial members of the Native Tongues collective. A Tribe Called Quest emerged nearly fully formed and released a legendary recording.
People’s Instinctive Travels is a singularly significant entry in Tribe’s discography. Jonathan “Q-Tip” Davis, Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor, DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White joined forces for the first time to create a uniquely groovy, and uniquely strange, collection of music. In some ways, it’s just as left of center as De La Soul’s first effort 3 Feet High and Rising (1989). It’s not quite as abstract, but it’s suitably weird in accessible ways.
Many of the accolades that People’s Instinctive Travels has received are based on its production. Q-Tip creates an expertly constructed sonic backdrop, drawing from extensive sample sources. While Tip was not the first producer to sample jazz records, very few used them as well as he did on People’s Instinctive Travels. Tip’s work behind the boards influenced countless producers, as he provided a template for creating an overall chill but undisputably soulful vibe that permeates every track on an album.
Q-Tip delivered verses on the collaborations with De La and Jungle Brothers but continued to grow as an emcee throughout People’s Instinctive Travels. Known for his distinctive nasal vocal tone, he deploys innovative stylistic rap deliveries throughout the project. He excels at complementing his tracks with his abstract rhyme style and content, further adding to the album’s atmosphere.
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Phife is very much a neophyte throughout People’s Instinctive Travels. He had delivered the verse of his career on De La Soul’s “Buddy” remix and was still growing as an emcee. His verses on Tribe’s debut are not his strongest, but they show that he possessed the charisma that he would make good use of later in his career.
People’s Instinctive Travels also features relatively extensive use of Jarobi, who appears in interludes throughout the album. If I would have to guess, I’d hazard that his total time on the project comes close to exceeding Phife’s. Jarobi serves as the album’s host, first introducing the members of the crew, and later providing introductions to many of the songs.
The album-opening “Push It Along” encapsulates Tribe’s approach throughout People’s Instinctive Travels. Tip and Phife each extol the group’s ability to further hip-hop’s progress as an artform to a smooth loop of Grover Washington Jr.’s version of “Loran’s Dance.” The song is an effective musical and lyrical mission statement, with Q-Tip using deeply abstract imagery to convey his mindset. “It's the nitty-gritty, my time is itty-bitty,” he raps. “So, I kick the slash for the gipper and the witty.”
Many listeners first became aware of A Tribe Called Quest through their single “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo.” The title is famously inspired by the TV show Sanford and Son, but its seeming randomness lent itself to Native Tongues’ odd sensibilities. The song is an amiable piece of storytelling, even though the narrative itself is borderline inconsequential. What sells it is its quirkiness, punctuated by Q-Tip’s unusual delivery and multiple in-song digressions.
“I Left My Wallet…” has such quirky charm that it’s helped people forget that it wasn’t actually People’s Instinctive Travels’ first single. That would be “Description of a Fool,” which is not my favorite song on the album. It’s a serviceable song overall, with Tip describing three different “fools” and their ill-fated interactions, but it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the project. Which is probably why it’s tucked away as the album’s final track. The song is mostly carried by the beat, which is built around a sample of the late Roy Ayers’ “Running Away.” The extended instrumental outro, where they just let the sample ride, is the song’s highlight.
Much better is the album third single, “Bonita Applebum,” which is one of the most beloved songs in Tribe’s catalogue. I’ve frequently commented on my distaste for hip-hop love songs, especially those released in the 1980s and early 1990s. But there’s no denying that “Bonita” is one without peer.
Many credit the track’s success to the beat, built from a loop of RAMP’s “Daylight” and vocals and instrumentation from Rotary Connection’s “Memory Band.” However, Q-Tip’s vocal performance is intrinsic to the song’s charm, delivering one line at a time with a syrupy flow, giving just a brief enough pause to soak in the ambiance. Never before or since has the word “prophylactics” sounded so scandalous or titillating.
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My personal favorite of the album’s singles is “Can I Kick It?” The smooth and bouncy track features possibly the greatest call and response chorus ever. It also has the best usage of a Lou Reed sample, as they loop up a section of “Walk on the Wild Side.” Again, it’s the vocal performances from Q-Tip and Phife that holds everything together, as their delivery and flow maximize the impact of each individual line. It has become another of the group’s most popular tracks, and it was the song the group performed during its reunion 25 years later on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.
Beyond the singles, People’s Instinctive Travels features a great collection of album tracks, many showcasing Q-Tip’s underrated storytelling abilities. “After Hours” features Tip chronicling an epic hang-out with compatriots on a local street corner. He captures the various sights, sounds, and tastes of the scene, “as the minutes just creep on by.” In-between vagrants giving speeches and choruses of frogs, the song captures the satisfaction that comes with spending time and building camaraderie with your friends.
“Luck of Lucien” is a similarly charming entry, with Tip dispensing wisdom to his nominal friend, who struggles seeking out love and affection. “Pubic Enemy” is peppy companion piece to Boogie Down Productions’ “Jimmy,” right down to the involvement of DJ Red Alert, with Tip describing the woes of those who run afoul of sexually transmitted diseases. Tip teams with Phife on both “Ham and Eggs,” which heralds the benefits of healthy living, as well as “Mr. Muhammed,” where the two sing the praises of their DJ.
But often People’s Instinctive Travels is at its best when Tip and company pay tribute to the power of their music. “Footprints” might be the album’s best entry, as Tip speaks on the group spread its message of the power of rhythm on its worldwide travels. It’s certainly one of the best produced songs on the album, as Tip blends a loop of Donald Byrd’s “Think Twice” with the intro horns to Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke.” Phife had said the song should have been one of the album’s singles, and he wasn’t wrong.
Tribe were far from the first to describe their music as the means of inspiration, but very few did it as effectively as they did. Songs like “Youthful Expression,” “Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts),” and “Go Ahead in the Rain” all speak to the group’s efforts to expand the consciousness of their audience through the force of their music.
As stated earlier, People’s Instinctive Travels is now almost universally viewed as Tribe’s prelude to the greater things that would come. But it has since received recognition for its impact. They released a 25th anniversary edition of album in late 2020, featuring remixes by Pharrel, J. Cole, and Cee-Lo Green, just a few of the artists influenced by the project.
For many groups, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm would be a career defining release, and one that they could spend decades trying to replicate the magic of. That Tribe was able to start at such a high level, and then progress beyond it, speaks to their singular talent. The debut showed that they were very good, very early into their career, and it shouldn’t have come as any sort of surprise that they were destined for even greater things.
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