Customer Reviews

Beats Rhymes & Life

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Excuse me, but what LP have all you so-called hip hop fans been listening to? "Tribe really fell off" is a favorite catchphrase people have using since this was released in 1996 and I still don't get it! "Beats, Rhymes and Life" is the most perfect album these gents have ever crafted and stands as a true classic in any genre. Tribes first 3 albums have been elevated to classic status because they all were released in quick succession, but after a 3 1/2 year lay off, the group lost some of it's core audience and the narrow-minded, fickle people who call themselves true hip hop 'heads' jumped on the "let's bash Tribe" bandwagon and deemed this album wack. What a terrible mistake! From the bangin' opener "Phony Rappers" this is a new, refreshed and mature Tribe and over the course of 15 tracks, Q-Tip, Phife and Shaheed top themselves over and over again. My personal faves from this album change every week (currently it's "Jam" featuring some of the best drums EVER to appear on a tribe album) so I won't single out any tracks, I will merely say this album can be listened to from start to finish without ever hitting skip/forward on your CD player. Special Musical Note: This CD gets special love from me for giving a much deserved shout-out to the then recently deceased Phyllis Hyman (on "Baby Phifes Return"). Ignore the naysayers, "B R & L" is a stunning achievement. Worth Owning.

I'm a make this short and sweet. Tribe is one of the greatest hip hop groups ever(next to Wu Tang Clan)and I can honestly say that what makes this group so special is how they connect, Phife and Q Tip blend so freaking good together especially with Muhammads amazing yet very kick back beats. Why is this getting less then 5 stars or more I really dont know, all I know is that this is an incredible hip hop album with some really kick ass songs. Is it "Midnight Mauraders"? Nah, is it "The Low End Theory"?...Nope but is it still an amazing hip hop album....hell yes.. It even has one of my favorite Tribe Songs ever "The Hop"...god I love the chorus to that song..

Well anyways COP THIS album! Its deff a must have for any Hip Hop Heads...best songs on the album are deff "Mind Power" "The Hop" "Phony Rappers" "1ce again" "Stressed Out" and many more....thats it im done.....not really a review but a rant...

5/5!

I believe this was the last true Tribe album. The Love Movement didn't exactly seem like the way they should go out to me. This album reminds me of high school and being down the shore. I can't even explain to you the way I used to zone out to "Get a Hold", an overlooked track on this album. The rhymes are slick, as is to be expected from Q and Phife - and the tracks are all soulful and creatively constructed. 1nce Again was the single off this album and it really captured the Tribe sound as it had developed over time.

A solid effort from one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time.

A Tribe Called Quest's (Q-Tip, Phife, Ali Shaheed Muhammad) fourth album was "Beats, Rhymes & Life" (1996). Following the release of three albums I consider classics ATCQ dropped this solid fifteen-track release after a three-year hiatus. Jay Dee (R.I.P.) teamed up with Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhamammad for "The Ummah" and helped with production on this release. My favourite track on this one is "Stressed Out", ATCQ and Faith Evans collaborate for an outstanding track. Faith Evans really impressed me on this cut, her soulful singing is excellent. Backed by some sick production ATCQ shine on cuts like "Jam", "1nce Again" and "What Really Goes On". Overall their is a notable change in production (more hard, less upbeat) and lyrics, less Jazz oriented cuts (the type I love), and more serious lyrics in my opinion. I don't consider "Beats, Rhymes & Life" to be among ATCQ's best work, it does however have some memorable moments, and some impressive production, which makes it a keeper for any big ATCQ fan. A Tribe Called Quest 1988-1998.

When I first copped this, I put it in my system at home and listened to it mostly subconsciously while doing other things. At first, I was very dissappointed at what I had heard and angry about how this was so different than their three predecessors. It would be a while before I played it again.
The next time I popped "B,R, & L" in was in my car, thinking it needed a second chance. Before I was halfway through the disc I started feeling it. And soon I was really feeling it. At first I was unsatisfied with the more prevalent swearing and very laid-back beats and flows, but once I started understanding their approach I played this like it was brand new. I still found time to listen to it throughout the next couple of months in which I bought many new cd's.
I should say that this is tied as my second favorite Tribe album with "Low End Theory" and behind their first masterpiece ("Peoples' Instictive Travels..."). "Midnight Marauders" was solid, but I never really got into that one. The strong point of this album starts with "The Pressure" and ending with "Keep It Moving," probably the strongest 6-10 lineup I've heard on any cd. Q-Tip's solo "Get A Hold" is a standout too, and probably my favorite on the disc. This album is worth buying alone for tracks 2 and 6-10. "Phony Rappers" and "Wordplay" are songs that are also not to be missed. "Separate/Together" is a beautiful short track as well. I really like the feel of "Stressed Out," even though Consequence delivers a weak last verse (like he does thoughout most of his few turns throughout the album), nontheless Faith's vocals leave with the perfect mood ending the disc.
In no way did the Tribe fall off starting here. I prefer this album to "Midnight Marauders" any day. I pretty much hated this album at first and ended up loving it, a sign of a true classic and that the Tribe were trying new things. The rhymes are more laid-back and focused, and almost perfect while giving new definitions of positivity. Q-Tip is not to be missed here. I ended up enjoying many of the beats very much and consider some of them as their best since "Peoples' Instinctive...". Buy this and you will find out that the Tribe offer many suggestions here on how to perfect your "Beats, Rhymes, and Life."

I would have given this album 2 1/2 stars in 1996, and been happy about it. I remember it vividly. It was July, and I was jonesing for the Quest to follow up to their masterpiece "Midnight Marauders" released a little less than three years earlier. I stepped into the store on cloud 9, and returned home as quickly as I could to pop this in......and what I got was about an hour of disappointment. I just wasn't prepared for this kind of shift. This album was nowhere near as beautiful as any of their previous work. I held them to such a high standard, that anything less than astonishment was unacceptable. This was a dense, nuanced album, that showed that the mid 90's Quest was not the early 90's Quest. It's bass heavy, linear production resembles some of the things to come a few years later from second wave alterna-rap juggernauts, The Roots, and Common.

This may not be their best, but it's still an excellent album. The wordplay between Phife, and Q-Tip was still almost telepathic, and while the feel of easiness was gone, song to song was not a difficult listen. There was also extremely pure reminders of why Quest was so loved in the first place (ie "The Jam", and "1nce Again") Those songs rank among the best of anything in their catalog. Songs like: "Phony Rappers"(an excellent battle rap) "Get A Hold", "Motivators", "What Really Goes On, and "Word Play" represent some of the best work in their post-peak period. This album also showcases some of the best work of The Ummah production unit, which consisted of Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jay-Dee.

The album closes with "Stressed Out" a surprising collaboration with Faith Evans that doesn't elate or disappoint (the album version would later be outdone by an excellent maxi featuring remixes by Bjork, and so on). What's so surprising, is that so many artists used this album as a semi-blueprint, slightly tweaking it's formulas, and applying them to their sound. "Beats, Rhymes, and Life" almost had the same impact on late 90's hip hop as "The Low End Theory" had on early 90's hip hop, which really says something about this record. The truth is, this record should probably have been released 3 years later minus a song or two. This record's successor "The Love Movement" was a direct reaction to the reception this record was given. The ironic thing is, it's predecessor holds up better 10 years out.

Q-Tip was best in the middle of the Tribe's career. Before Midnight Marauders and after this album, his lyrical muscles were just too weak for his image as the Abstract Poetic. This album attempts to supersede the impossibly high level of balanced perfection that Midnight Marauders presented to the world. They add mini tracks (Crew, Separate/Together) and try to attack the mainstream directly (many conscious rappers don't know that conscious rap only works when it doesn't keep talking about how conscious it is). They try to embrace the party world (Jam, the Hop) and the cerebral world (Mind Power) and flirt with less conventional song forms (Word Play). This is all well and good, except for Consequence (where the hell did he come from?) and Stressed Out, which can be omitted from the album with no trouble at all.
The production on this album strikes an excellent balance, and the overall pace of the album is even more deliberately measured than that of Midnight, which was almost a fluke of a perfect album. There are discordant keyboards on joints like Phony Rappers and Separate/Together, then the tight jams of the horribly underrated Get a Hold and the hint of what is yet to come, Keeping it Moving. Most of the songs retain a crucial jazz element of the earlier work combined with a hint of the futuristic sterility of the Love Movement, but this middle ground, combined with the unhurried brilliance of the lyrical work, makes it my favorite tribe album.
Instead of being a great rap album like the one before it, Beats Rhymes and Life is a great Tribe album. It takes time to understand it but it fits perfectly in its place in the Tribe canon and in the mid 90s, when hip hop was just about to start killing itself.

Let's get this out in the open right now: This CD is not on par with the first three Tribe CD's...but then again, what is?

The first major change in Tribe's presentation is the production. At this period, Tip & Ali hooked up with then up-and-coming producer JayDee to form the conglomerate the Uhmah (the brotherhood). To me, and a lot of poeple, despite Tip & Ali making up 2/3 of the team, JayDee's influence shined much more than either Tip's or Ali's. Tribe fans were dealing with a whole new sound. While most of the fans were NOT pleased with it (this album is always referred to as Tribe's biggest dissappointment), I, on the other hand, was blown away at first listen. From the use of the chants in 'GET A HOLD', to the use of the guitar sample as percussion on 'KEEP IT MOVIN', to his incredible kick drum programming on 'WORDPLAY', this CD shows JayDee developing into the top-notch producer he is today. To anyone who has just gotten into JayDee's work, I recommend this CD.

There is one major problem with this CD however. The only complaint about this CD that is justified.

CONSEQUENCE.

Q-Tip made a huge mistake by bringing his no-talent relative into this CD. CONSEQUENCE not only has a horrible voice, but his rhymes are far worse than the Slum Village & the Group Home combined. "Thirstier than Sprite"? "I got the love in your mouth"? His presence was absolutely unnecessary, a hinderance this CD could have done without.

This CD is a must-have for all JayDee fans, even with Consequence's wack rhymes hindering things (but then agan, after repeated listening to the Slum Village, that's something we all should be used to).

Tribe is probably one of my favorite groups, because they got rhymes that are on beat, can be understood easily( I still like nonsense freestyle, but Tribe is different), their beats and tracks always sound cool, and even though popular worldwide, they aren't being overplayed by the radio. I try to stay away from mainstream, simply because I know there's got be more real hip-hop than what the media is putting out. Anyways, this album one of the best of the five, even though they have matured in beats and rhymes. Forget the bad reviews because you know the Tribe is always good. Practically all the songs on this CD are tight. The best tracks are 'Phony Rappers','Motivators', 'Baby Phife's Return', 'Jam','1nce Again'(the best beat on the whole CD), and 'Stressed Out'. I would have given the CD 4 1/2 stars, because the only problem is that the CD is too short(51 min.). Otherwise, this CD's pretty tight. Also, if you don't have any of Tribe's LP's, try to get Midnight Marauders first(the best Tribe Album!)

I've never understood why this album got such bad reviews. I think this album is tribe's best, followed closely by Midnight marauders. When I was a young teenager I had a large collection of punk music, and I hated rap. This was because I had only heard stuff like Ice cube, and Snoop, which in my oponion isn't that great. But one day when I was about 15 (I'm 17 now) someone showed me beats rhymes, and life. I loved it! So much so, I stoped listning to punk all together. I started buying stuff like Nas, Pharcyde, Mobb Deep, Wu-tang, Rascalz, and The Roots, to name a few. Now I own every tribe album, and still think it's the best. By the way, i'm really disapointed in the Love movement.