3 Eternal Hip-Hop Songs From A Tribe Called Quest’s Debut LP

When hip-hop music was first created in the parks of New York City in the late 1970s, the sounds were born from records and turntables. Using groundbreaking but also rudimentary equipment, DJs played breaks from funk and soul songs and repeated them over and over so people could dance and rap over them. But as time passed, things changed.

In the mid-1980s, for example, the Queens, New York-born rap trio known as A Tribe Called Quest began to write and record songs with live instrumentation. While they also constructed traditional beats with samples and electronic drums, the group also used live performers, including prolific jazz bassist Ron Carter. Here below, we wanted to explore three classic songs from Tribe’s 1990 debut LP People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm that have since stood the test of time.

[RELATED: Behind the Band Name: A Tribe Called Quest]

“Can I Kick It?”

This song remains the signature Tribe track and can still be heard on contemporary television commercials and other media today. Recorded in 1989 when the group members were in their teens, the track also famously includes a bass sample from the Lou Reed single, “Walk on the Wild Side.” And on the classic song, co-frontman Q-Tip raps,

Can I kick it?
To all the people who can Quest like A Tribe does
Before this, did you really know what live was?
Comprehend to the track, for it’s why ’cause
Getting measures on the tip of the vibers
Rock and roll to the beat of the funk fuzz
Wipe your feet really good on the rhythm rug
If you feel the urge to freak, do the jitterbug

Come and spread your arms if you really need a hug
Afrocentric living is a big shrug
A life filled with fun, that’s what I love
A lower plateau is what we’re above
If you diss us, we won’t even think of
Will Nipper the doggy give a big shove?
This rhythm really fits like a snug glove
Like a box of positives is a plus, love
As the Tribe flies high like a dove

“Bonita Applebum”

The second single from the band’s debut LP, this song is an ode to beauty. Centered around a sitar sample, co-frontman Q-Tip waxes poetic about a woman who he feels both lust and love for. In fact, the tune opens up with him musing about that in a spoken-word fashion. The title of the song is the woman’s name but it’s also is a nod to the figure’s shapely posterior—an “apple bottom.” And on the tune, Q-Tip raps about wanting to get closer to her,

Hey Bonita, glad to meet ya
For the kind of stunning newness, I must have foreseen ya
Hey, being with you is a top priority
Ain’t no need to question the authority
Chairman of the board, the chief of affections
You got mine’s to swing in your direction
Hey, you’re like a hip hop song, you know?
Bonita Applebum, you gotta put me on

“I Left My Wallet in El Segundo”

The first single from the group’s debut LP, this is a catchy nonsense song about leaving your wallet behind in a foreign place. There are a lot of rap songs with messages, songs with crucial details. There’s a reason the genre has come to be known as “Black CNN.” But that doesn’t mean every song has to have a pointed message. Some, like this one, can be an amusing short story. And on it, Q-Tip raps,

I left my wallet in El Segundo
I left my wallet in El Segundo
I left my wallet in El Segundo
I got to get it, I got, got to get it
I left my wallet in El Segundo
I left my wallet in El Segundo
I left my wallet in El Segundo
I got to get it, I got, got to get it

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Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images