Album of the Week: Midnight Marauders

Welcome to the start of another great Record Club summer! Nothing's changed. If you want to write an album review for any album that piques your interest, then please, I encourage it. The only difference in the summer is that I just do a little more outreach, maybe attempt to persuade some more people to participate, those who just need a little tiny extra persuasion. Y'all are great writers and I know you love music, so this is the perfect opportunity to take part in both of those activities. Enjoy!

Record Club:

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WEEK 382 — May 24-30, 2026

Midnight Marauders

by A Tribe Called Quest

LISTEN:

Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp | Apple

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PICKED BY VOTE

CATEGORY OF VOTING: "We Need More Rap" — I just counted. There have been approximately 34 hip hop albums covered by Record Club. Some of those were barely rap (and some other ones, truthfully, were just barely not rap, so let's call it even). That's less than 10%. The purpose of this category was to force some more hip hop greats into the RC fold, whether you like it or not. You apparently do like it—A Tribe Called Quest received more total votes in the Summer Polls than any artist in any category.

LOSING ALBUMS: Hot, Cool and Vicious by Salt-n-Peppa, Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J, Ridin' Dirty by UGK, Supreme Clientele by Ghostface Killah

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ALBUM DETAILS

GENRE: Jazz Rap, Boom Bap, Conscious Hip Hop

RELEASED: November 9, 1993

LENGTH: 51:12

TRACKLIST:

1. Midnight Marauders Tour Guide
2. Steve Biko (Stir It Up)
3. Award Tour (ft. Trugoy the Dove)
4. 8 Million Stories
5. Sucka N***a
6. Midnight (ft. Raphael Wiggins)
7. We Can Get Down
8. Electric Relaxation
9. Clap Your Hands
10. Oh My God (ft. Busta Rhymes)
11. Keep It Rollin' (ft. Large Professor)
12. The Chase, Part II
13. Lyrics to Go
14. God Lives Through

LYRICS: Genius.com

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ARTIST DETAILS

PRONOUNS: he/him/his for each of this rap group's four individual members

ABOUT: A Tribe Called Quest formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985. The group largely consisted of four members: Q-Tip (vocals, production), Phife Dawg (vocals), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (turntables, co-production), and Jarobi White (vocals). White left the group in 1991, which means that he is the only member to not appear on this RC album. They were the central movement in the Native Tongues collective, which was a large group of hip hop artists "known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and jazz-influenced beats." A Tribe Called Quest is known for infusing jazz into its production, which juxtaposed nicely with the other strains of hip hop at the time. The group was inactive from 1998 to 2006, and, ten years after reuniting, they released their final album to critical acclaim. Phife Dawg passed away six months before that album was released, and with his passing, A Tribe Called Quest officially disbanded. They performed their final concert on September 9, 2017. They are widely known as one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time, with many arguing that they are the greatest.

DISCOGRAPHY: Six albums total, and this is their third. Their first, 1990's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, earned the first five-mic rating in The Source history. 1991's The Low End Theory is usually the one you see topping or near the top of "Best Hip Hop Albums of All Time" lists. 2016's We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service is the aforementioned swan song.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

READING SOME SHIT: A 23-year anniversary piece on a random blog

WATCHING SOME SHIT: 30 minutes of a July 2017 show

RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: Busta Rhymes, an constant auxiliary member of A Tribe Called Quest, reappears here after a five-and-a-half-year absence from Record Club, when he gave the intro and outro to Supa Dupa Fly. This album has an introduction from an automated voice, and what RC album does this remind me of? Possibly Wallsocket? Or is there a better example? [Edit after publication: fuck it was probably Imaginal Disk I was thinking of!]

There aren't too many features on this album, but being already familiar with aTCQ's 2016 final album, I can tell you that plenty of RC artists eventually appear in their discography, including Kendrick Lamar, OutKast's André 3000, and the Raconteurs' Jack White.

This is our second Midnight, after Midnights. This is our second Quest, after Humble Quest.

MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: There are plenty of Tribe mentions throughout this blog, especially as I've gotten into hip hop over the past five years and constantly compare new (to me) albums back to albums I already know. The Low End Theory was a Blind Spot in that context. But there have been two entries in MMM (001 and 015), a pick for the monthly playlist, and a great pick by Fisher for Summer Song Challenge.

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COUNTDOWN:

69 Weeks Until Week 420

We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. During Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. The goal for Week 420 of Record Club is that it will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people. 

THIS WEEK: We are 38 weeks away from Week 420.

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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!