We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service

Sounding like nothing else out there, distinct even from Tribe's previous work, We Got It From Here is political without being preachy, fun without being unintelligent and next level out while being street corner down. A superb swansong. [Jan 2017, p.71]

By and large, We got it from Here… has the classic Tribe sound: a warm and crisp confluence of East Coast hip-hop, jazz, and more, all mixed and mastered impeccably. While some aspects of the sound are dated, others feel fresh.

Tribe carry their burdens as lightly as they did on rap landmarks such as People's Instinctive Travels and The Low-End Theory. [Feb 2017, p.38]

It’s a perfect album in every sense of the word, this album is timeless.

We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service also frequently makes the strong case that it’s the best thing this group’s ever done, too.

It solidifies the group’s track record for absolute greatness, adding an unexpected sixth turn to a career that followed one aesthetic path but was always moving.

We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service is all just beats, rhymes, and life. Nothing about this feels like a legacy cash-in; it feels like a legit A Tribe Called Quest album.

This is no nostalgia trip or callous comeback. It's a giant exclamation point on the end of a brilliant career. It's also a tribute to the everyman genius of Phife, a widescreen look at the record-making skills of Q-Tip, and most importantly, it's a pure, undiluted, joyous thrill to have the Tribe back and still sounding this vital.

We Got It from Here could’ve been a self-referential nostalgia piece, a militant call to arms, or a Tribe and Friends-style fame flex, but it transcends such shallow concerns.

Overall, We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service proves that after all this time, A Tribe Called Quest can, in fact, still kick it. It's a goodbye on a high note.

Through thick and thin, Tribe embodies the fully fleshed out idea of the Hip Hop their impassioned audience clamors for: work that’s soulful, thought provoking, and gripping enough to transport minds away from strife to another world sonically.

This album succeeds in its goals despite the heartbreaking passing of Phife Dawg while it was being recorded, and even though I had accepted "The Love Movement" as their last chapter all those years ago, this is a much more fitting end.

Unlike with previous records, there is no overarching theme to We Got It From Here, and it can often leave the album feeling a little chaotic. But in the end, A Tribe Called Quest were all about beats, rhymes and life, and this album has that in spades.

It’s good, an unexpected victory lap by Tip, Phife, producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and estranged founding member Jarobi.

All told, there’s more flaws here than there is greatness. But with each of Tribe’s albums up until now, it’s pointless to dissect it track by track when really, it should be taken as one, singular groove (made up of smaller grooves).

Luckily, We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service not only satisfies its lofty expectations, it often exceeds them.

A noble, affecting sign-off worthy of the name. [Feb 2017, p.118]

At times the album can seem tired and mid-paced, and some of the collaborators (Andre 3000, Anderson Paak) are more effective than others (Talib Kweli, Jack White). But for those who value Tribe’s contribution to music, this is a record to be grateful for.

It’s not all perfect. You could rightly question whether the Q-Tip/André 3000 duet Kids… has any place on a ATCQ album. Or whether a glut of guest spots including Elton John, Jack White and Kendrick Lamar are strictly necessary. Yet ultimately it’s the original, immersive Tribe vibes that conquer all.

Despite the addition of new blood like Anderson .Paak on ‘Movin Backwards’ and Kendrick on ‘Conrad Tokyo’, the overall production, overseen by master cutter Ali Shaeed Muhammed, is unfiltered, choppy and distinctly reminiscent of the original Tribe sound.

Despite the hiatus, this guest-laden double-album finds the group still very much engaged, rattling out tongue-twisting, articulate verbal flows dealing more with social realities than self-aggrandising brags and outlaw fantasies.

A triumphantly outspoken, brash blast of incisive songs informed by inequality, displacement, joy, loss, humour, working, time’s passage, wit and sick production.

Backed up by lyrical content that has never been more potent and relevant, this album is proof that A Tribe Called Quest never really left.

A record rooted in anxiety and mourning, We Got It From Here remains musically as dark and electrically relaxed as 1996's Beats, Rhymes and Life and 1998's The Love Movement.