Midnight Marauders

Seven times out of ten, we listen to our music at night. Thus spawned the title of this program.

Hello, this is your Midnight Marauder program
I'm on the front of your cover
I will be enhancing your cassettes and CDs
With certain facts that you may find beneficial
The average bounce meter for your Midnight Marauder program will be in the area of 95 BPMs
We hope that you will find our presentation precise, bass-heavy, and just right
Thanks

Hi Son,

I’ve talked to you about how a big part of my early influence in music was Hip-Hop. I went over DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, the Fugees and also Lauryn Hill, Tupac and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. The early to mid-90s is far and way my favorite era of Hip-Hop. I fell off in the late 90s and starting to ignore it largely in the 2000s. One group that I missed out while getting into the aforementioned artists (I’m also going to talk about Busta Rhymes in a future post, who has ties to this group) is A Tribe Called Quest. I’m really not sure how I missed them. Maybe it was because of the West Coast/East Coast drama taking over that part of the decade. They initially blew up with their second studio album, “The Low End Theory” in 1991, which was just before I really started getting into the genre. Their music does not fit the Gangsta Rap moniker. That could be a reason why I missed out. The founding members of the group were Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White. Jarobi would not stay with the group for long. After their debut album was released, he left to pursue the culinary arts. Q-Tip and Phife provided the lyrics and Ali Shaheed was the DJ.

A Tribe Called Quest consists of four members
Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip, and Jarobi
A-E-I-O-U, and sometimes Y

After going back and listening through their discography, the album that I love the most if their third release, “Midnight Marauders.” The record was dropped on November 9, 1993. I would have been in sixth grade at this time. According to Wikipedia, the Midnight Marauders were a group of “71 different luminaries and radio DJs.” The album artwork features the members of the Midnight Marauders. None of these luminaries consist of the Hip-Hop artists I listened to in the mid-90s. So essentially the list of artists on the record cover is a laundry list of rappers and DJs that I need to catch up on! The record went platinum on January 11, 1995 which happened to occur in 21 less days than their highly-lauded second record, “The Low End Theory.” Rolling Stones, who occasionally publishes a “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list has “Midnight Marauders” at 201 (from 2020).

Seven times out of ten, we listen to our music at night
Thus spawned the title of this program
The word maraud means to loot
In this case, we maraud for ears

What I really enjoy about the concept of this record is the robotic-sounding voice which intros and outros throughout the tracklist. The voice was performed by Laura Dann. The first track on the record is a blurb spoke by Laura introducing you to the record and giving some description of the style of music you’re about to listen to. The second track is “Steve Bilko (Stir It Up).” It’s a really good opening (unofficial) track. What I love about Tribe’s style is how fluid and smooth their delivery is. A lot of that has to do with Q-Tip, who is the main producer of the group. Q-Tip is quite simply the most suave-sounding rapper I have ever listened to. His delivery is just flat out butter and his image supports it. He is quite simply one of the coolest dudes I have ever seen. Back to the name referenced in the song. Steve Bilko, was considered the “Father of Black Consciousness” because of his activism during the Anti-Apartheid Movement. He was murdered during an arrest in 1977 (by police officers). His coffin he was laid to rest in has a clenched fist engraved onto it. It is considered a symbol of Black Power.

You're not any less of a man if you don't pull the trigger
You're not necessarily a man if you do

I’m not going to cover all of the thirteen tracks on the record, but will go over the ones that have meant the most to me. Track 3 is one of their singles called “Award Tour.” It is probably the most popular track on “Midnight Marauders.” The music and the drums are awesome. The lyrics to me are mostly talking about the group touring the world, while mentioning their DJ, Ali Shaheed” as “we’re on a world tour, with Muhammad, my man.” It’s far and away one of the best songs in their entire catalog. Track 5 is “Sucka N***a.” An article written by the Guardian in 2007 describes the group’s lyrics as an “address of the emotive power of the N-word.” One of the definitions of emotive is “causing strong emotions often in support of or against something.” There is no question how incredibly cruel the White Community has abused the Black Community with the N-word for centuries. The flip side is that it has become a slang term in Black culture and is frequently used in Hip-Hop. It isn’t a word that I will ever intend on uttering again and I sure as hell will raise you to condemn it. The music on the song is a loop sampled from the song “Red Clay” by Jack Wilkins. I really enjoy how they used Wilkins’ music, especially the bass that resonates throughout.

Did you know that the rate of AIDS in the Black and Hispanic community is rising at an alarming rate?
Education is proper means for slowing it down

Track 8 is another single off of the record, “Electric Relaxation.” This is the most suave and smooth sounding track on Marauders. The group samples “Mystic Brew” by Ronnie Foster. The song is an instrumental featuring the jazz organ. It pairs so well with Q-Tip and Phife Dawg’s deliveries. The song itself (Electric Relaxation) has been sampled by several Hip-Hop artists since it’s release. The lyrics are pretty much describing sex, which in all honesty this song fits perfectly within that theme. My favorite track on “Midnight Marauders” is track 10, “Oh My God.” This would be the third and final single released. I think of all the songs on this record, if there is one you want to play at a party the most, it’s this one. The beat is energetic and the bass is my favorite out of any song on Marauders. My favorite lyric is also on this song, rapped by Phife.

One for the treble, two for the bass
You know the style, Tip, it's time to flip this
I like my beats hard like two day old shit
Steady eatin' booty MCs like cheese grits

The song also features Busta Rhymes, who I said earlier had a tie to Tribe. His role was during the chorus saying “Oh My God” which I appreciate so much now after having gotten into Busta in the mid 90s.

The title MC means Master of Ceremony
Some people who emcee don't know what this term means

The last track I’m going to cover is the penultimate track “Lyrics to Go.” The music is largely built around a guitar riff made by James Brown in the song “Just Enough Room for Storage.” What’s interesting is how they blend it into the rest of the music and their lyrics, given how loud and prevalent the riff is during Brown’s song. Phife Dawg would go on record ranking “Lyrics to Go” as one of his favorite 5 Tribe songs.

“First of all, Minnie Riperton probably had the greatest voice that ever lived. Two, the way Q-Tip sampled this song [Riperton’s ‘Inside My Love’] and was able to incorporate it with the drums, that was crazy. I wish I had been able to think of that. There’s a sustained note that carries on throughout the song, and it’s a crazy idea that I’m surprised no one else had been able to think of. Tip thought of it, and he’s the man for that, most definitely.”

The song “Inside My Love” that Phife is referring to is a beautiful song. It’s very sensual and fits well within the suaveness that Tribe exudes.

Even though I skipped around the tracklist, the record itself has no tracks that I would actually skip. For me it’s their best album, even though “The Low End Theory” will get that accolade from many others. The group would break up in 1998, just before the release of their album “The Love Movement.” They would get back together after the turn of the century, but they did not return to the status they left in the 1990s. More tragically, the universe lost Phife Dawg on on March 22, 2016. He was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990 and even mentioned it in the lyrics of “Oh My God” calling himself a “funky diabetic.” He would experience several complications over the last decade of his life due to it. Born Malik Izaak Taylor, he left us at the young age of 45. The group continues to perform and honor his memory. His passing was just before the release of an album, “We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service,” which was the first since “The Love Movement” and would also be their last. Their legacy continues to be an influence on many Hip-Hop artists since they broke up in 1998. I really have never heard a style completely like theirs and don’t believe I ever will again.

This concludes Midnight Marauder program
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Love,

Dad

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