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How A Tribe Called Quest Changed Hip Hop Forever

Digging The Greats | August 16, 2025



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For the first week of Camp Digs we’re breaking down the first album from A Tribe Called Quest, “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm”! This is a classic album that not only earned the very first perfect “5 Mic” rating from The Source, but is also the birth of Tribe, setting them up for their next 2 albums – all the parts are there, it’s just Tribe in it’s infancy… or as you’ll see… their birth.

R.I.P. Phife

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THANK YOU TO THE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER TIER ON PATREON
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:28 About Camp Digs
02:30 Longest Name in History
04:26 The Native Tongues
06:12 Luck of Lucien
08:26 Footprints
10:27 El Segundo Kinda Sounds Like…
11:53 Bonita Applebum
14:08 Pause Tapes
14:53 (Yes you can)
16:41 The Preview
18:18 Hearing From You
19:42 Livestream

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#hiphop #atribecalledquest #musichistory

Written by Digging The Greats

Comments

This post currently has 46 comments.

  1. @TheLoneMutant

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    I am currently 42-years-old and I felt the same exact way at the age of 7 that Morgan felt wen she was 11. Hip hop opened the world of music to me too that I never knew existed when I first heard it at the tender age of 5, and so I was very blown away at the age of 7 when A Tribe Called Quest's debut album came out in 1990. Great video as always. I will have to get caught up with the rest of your stuff soon as I've been extremely busy as of late.

  2. @WallStreet06

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    My name Frank. I first heard Hail Mary not 2pac 7day theory. And it was over. I was retroactively addicted to hip hop. Some kid from the office is going to have to explain how patron works. Cause I thought that was decent tequila.

    Idk if yall are sticking to decades but you should do It’s Dark and Hell is Hot. That. That record was everything in like 98. Then Dre dropped. Good times .

  3. @dkscott331

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    Was 13 when this dropped and wasn't "really" into hip hop just yet. When I heard Bonita…I was hooked. It was a vibe i could get into, just like Hey Young World earlier.

  4. @hillcountrycrops1260

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    The cool thing about tribe back in the day was that you could put them on during a house party and just keep things going. There were so many fights and stuff back then and tribe kinda just erased it.

  5. @blueknight5754

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    This is a must have..I was 17 when this dropped and as I listened it placed me on the streets with them..out at the dance that Bonita met Tip..I felt I belonged there..that stayed with me every time I hear that album.

  6. @danieldean1806

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    I'm so glad you revisited this album it feels like a forgotten record compared to the next two…but this is the record that made me fall in love with tribe. I love the production and the way it flows… nothing sounded like this in 1990.

  7. @marbleblue5127

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    Sugar Ray was absolutely biting, but rock in the 90s freely borrowed some styles and instrumentation from hip-hop. It sometimes came off a little corny, but it was cool how intertwined pop music was back then.

  8. @abelabera8502

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    You keep saying Q-Tip and Ali but the fact remains.. Q-Tip did all of it for the first 3 albums except large pro(kept it rolling) and skeff anslem (everything is fair) Tip was always about the unit and put down produced by a tribe called quest instead of Q-Tip. He also hand drew the tribe called quest logo and came up with the albums names and art covers.

  9. @skeelo69

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    My fave phife and Q interaction is in the rap 'Scenario' which happens to be my favourite rap EVER….and my favourite TCQ song is Award Tour…that Bass is badass.

  10. @t.breeze8659

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    Great video series but why no Sly Stone video. With his passing, we’d love your take on his legacy. And as a bassist, you would appreciate the influence of Larry Graham’s work with the Family Stone.

    As for Peoples Instinctive Travels, Phife was hardly part of that album. It’s as if Phife didn’t get serious about it until Low End Theory.

  11. @PaulGSKMB

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    About Luck of Lucien:
    The intro is an excerpt of a Beatles song which happens to have borrowed notes from the French national anthem called La Marseillaise.
    Lucien ended up in jail for arson and manslaughter: he burnt somebody’s doormat, somebody who owed him money, but the door and then the apartment ended up catching fire and somebody ended up dead.

  12. @patricknichols4670

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    Masterfully done, as always.

    Question, could someone tell me what type of guitar that is in the background? My daughter wants to start playing but i dont really know the different types

  13. @wcorowitz

    August 16, 2025 at 9:17 am

    ATCQ is my favorite group of ALL TIME and this is the album that did it for me. This album is like a time capsule. I was a Native Tongue fan, but this is my favorite HIP-HOP album of ALL TIME!!! The collection of samples on this album was so eclectic and fresh. It contained samples two of my favorite artists of ALL TIME before they became my two favorite artists of ALL TIME: (Intro of Description of a Fool) Jimi Hendrix (Rainy Day sample) AFTER HOURS – Sly Stone (Remember who You Are sample). They were a lot of quirky and comedic moments on this album, right along with some really deep introspective gems. I still feel like DESCRIPTION of a FOOL is the precursor to Arrested Development's Everyday People. Thanks for covering my favorite album right out of the gate and showing ATCQ so much love on your channel. I feel like this album (FOR ME) represented what Woodstock felt like for the 60's generation.

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