Midnight Marauders

A Tribe Called Quest sought to further develop the bass-heavy sound of its previous album, The Low End Theory, with group member Q-Tip setting up his production equipment in the house basement of fellow member Phife Dawg's grandmother. Phife Dawg explained, "my grandmother gave him a key, the whole nine, he used to just go in and do his thing." The album's title, Midnight Marauders, originated from Q-Tip's lyrics in the song "Vibes and Stuff" from The Low End Theory, though it was later interpreted by group member Ali Shaheed Muhammad that "A Tribe Called Quest are like sound thieves looting for your ears." Recording sessions for Midnight Marauders took place at Battery Studios, Platinum Island Studios and Scorcerer Sound in New York City, over a period of nine months, ending in September 1993. All songs were mixed at Battery Studios and mastered at The Hit Factory in New York City. Raphael Saadiq (credited as Raphael Wiggins) played bass guitar on the song "Midnight". Despite Jarobi White leaving the group midway through recording The Low End Theory, the group maintained a "revolving door policy" with him, in which he would continue to attend recording sessions and supply the group with humor that became part of their songwriting process. Clarifying his role, he stated, "You come in [to the studio]. You might have had a bad day today. Some lady might have pushed you on the train  ... I walk in the studio and I'm bringing all my rambunctious silly stupid jokes and now we're all laughing." ==Music==

Production The production on Midnight Marauders is a return to the eclectic sampling that the group was originally known for, featuring samples of mainly 1970s jazz, funk, soul and R&B. The album has been described as "hooky" and was given critical praise for its frequent horn hooks. Describing the album's drum programming to Vibe, Q-Tip said: Q-Tip also experimented with vocal sampling techniques on the album. For the song "Lyrics to Go", he sampled a portion of "Inside My Love" by Minnie Riperton, in which Riperton's whistle register is sustained throughout, giving "Lyrics to Go" a droning backdrop. The song "Sucka Nigga" contains a slowed-down sample of Rodney Cee's voice, taken from "M.C. Battle" with Busy Bee, which was featured in the old-school hip-hop film Wild Style (1983). For The Low End Theory, engineer Bob Power removed all excess noise from the samples, however, Q-Tip instructed him to leave the noise in the samples on Midnight Marauders, adding to the gritty nature of the album. In addition, Q-Tip has stated that the album has more "sheen" to it than The Low End Theory, having been recorded on an SSL mixing console rather than the Neve console they previously used. The group's documentary director Michael Rapaport stated, "They followed a classic and upped the ante. Put it like this: [The Low End Theory] would be the first run at the championship ring, but it takes a different mentality to stay focused and do it again." Building on the lyrical interplay that was established on The Low End Theory, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg are "practically telepathic" on some songs, providing a contrast in both delivery and style. On the single "Oh My God", he refers to himself as a "funky diabetic" in a moment of self-deprecation. Throughout the album, the group blends their brand of intelligence, reflection, and positivity with humorous anecdotes. James Bernard of Entertainment Weekly praised the group for managing to "hold our attention without resorting to gun references or expletives." Tom Breihan of Stereogum noted that Q-Tip and Phife Dawg "sounded slicker and more comfortable than they ever had before." Owing to that comfort and their chemistry, the two occasionally performed each other's lyrics during the recording sessions. Describing the "Electric Relaxation" session to XXL, Phife Dawg said, "On that record, [Q-Tip] wrote my lines and I wrote his—actually, we wrote our own lines, and when we recorded, we traded. That's why the whole back and forth, you know what I mean?" ==Cover artwork==

The album cover artwork depicts a woman painted in Afrocentric colors, continuing the artistic theme found on The Low End Theory. The book goes into detail as to which artists were on which particular album cover using a number scheme to easily identify each artist. The complete list of artists is as follows: 3rd Bass, Afrika Bambaataa, AMG, Ant Banks, Beastie Boys, Awesome Two, Black Moon, Busta Rhymes, Casual, Chi-Ali, Chubb Rock, Chuck D, The Cold Crush Brothers, Daddy-O of Stetsasonic, Dallas Austin, Del the Funky Homosapien, Diamond D, De La Soul, Doctor Dré, Doug E. Fresh, Fab Five Freddy, Grandmaster Dee of Whodini, Grandmaster Flash, Heavy D, Ice-T, Jazzy Jay, DJ Jazzy Joyce, Jungle Brothers, Kid Capri, Kool DJ Red Alert, Kool Moe Dee, Large Professor, Litro, Lords of the Underground, MC Lyte, Neek the Exotic, Organized Konfusion, The Pharcyde, Rashad Smith, Rock Steady Crew (Crazy Legs, Mr. Wiggles, Pee Wee Dance and Ruel), DJ Ron G, DJ Silver D, Sean Combs, Skeff Anselm, Souls of Mischief, Special Ed, Sweet Tee, Too Short and Zulu Nation Supreme Council. ==Commercial performance==

Midnight Marauders peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. On January 14, 1994, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States. It was certified platinum by the RIAA nearly a full year later, on January 11, 1995, with shipments of one million copies. It became the first of three A Tribe Called Quest albums to be certified platinum by the RIAA, doing so 21 days before The Low End Theory achieved the feat. == Critical reception ==

Midnight Marauders was generally well received by music critics, with Vibe hailing it as "a rap classic" and NME calling it the group's "most complete work to date." In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau quipped that it was "intelligent easy-listening rap", choosing the track "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)" as a highlight; he later commended the album, rating it higher than The Low End Theory. In Oliver Wang's book Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide, writer Joseph Patel noted how the album helped unify hip-hop in the early 1990s: Writing in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, Mac Randall wrote that it "certainly doesn't skimp on the funk." It was ranked number 75 on Pitchforks list of the Top 100 Favorite Records of the 1990s, with Rollie Pemberton stating that the group "produced a jazz-hop clinic that finds itself equal parts Pete Rock, Buckshot and Diamond D." Accolades ==Legacy and influence==

Midnight Marauders helped establish a "second golden age" of hip-hop, and has been regarded as the pinnacle of the Native Tongues movement. Hip-hop critics and writers have cited it as the group's best album, despite it not being as acclaimed as The Low End Theory. In NME, producer Mark Ronson said that the album "changed the sound of East Coast hip-hop, which before was very noisy and aggressive. But Midnight Marauders just had this sheen to it—it wasn't too cleaned-up or sanitised, the snares still had that amazing 'crack' to them, but it sounded like nothing you'd ever heard before. It changed everything." In 2003, Pitchfork writer Rollie Pemberton stated that "a deep listen to this record unveils the sound that helped promote the current chilled vibe-oriented underground", citing the J Dilla-affiliated duo Frank n Dank, Madlib and 9th Wonder's former group Little Brother as examples. Other underground artists influenced by the album include Terrace Martin, Jean Grae, Currensy, RJD2, Oddisee, Hiatus Kaiyote and Karriem Riggins. In a 20th anniversary review of the album for XXL, rapper Talib Kweli gave it a perfect "XXL" rating and stated, "It established Tribe as a commercial, mainstream almost pop group, but it did it by being completely true to their rudiments, and it did it by finding the greatest jazz samples and making the most classic underground hip-hop they could make. They were so good at making underground hip-hop that it went pop." The singer Bilal names it among his 25 favorite albums, explaining that, "It's just a special album to me. I like where they were as far as beat making. I think it changed a lot in hip-hop on that record." ==Track listing==

• All songs produced by A Tribe Called Quest, except track 4 produced by Skeff Anselm and track 11 produced by Large Professor. == Personnel ==

Credits are adapted from AllMusic. • Skeff Anselm – producer • Busta Rhymes – guest artist • Pete Christensen – assistant engineer • Tom Coyne – mastering • Patrick Derivaz – assistant engineer • Chris Flam – assistant engineer • Eric Gast – assistant engineer • Gerard Julien – assistant engineer • Large Professor – guest artist, producer • Tim Latham – engineer • Hoover Le – assistant engineer • Ali Shaheed Muhammad – DJ • Phife Dawg – vocals • Bob Power – engineer, mixing • Q-Tip – vocals • Brad Schmidt – assistant engineer • George Spatta – assistant engineer • A Tribe Called Quest – engineer, mixing, primary artist, producer • Trugoy the Dove – guest artist • Carol Weinberg – photography • Raphael Wiggins – guest artist, bass guitar ==Charts and certifications==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications ==See also==