November 9th, 1993-A Tribe Called Quest-Midnight Marauders 20 years on...

 

But hold up (wait a minute) The Wu's Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was not the only classic album released on November 9th, 1993, Native Tongue's A Tribe Called Quest released their third album Midnight Marauders and it was an album that made a lot of top 10 lists by the years end and cemented Tribe as one of the greatest groups along with the Wu to ever grace Hip Hop.

 









What made the album so special other than the great music was the cover made up of a who's who of Hip Hop legends, I recall an old Friend attending photography school and a group of us recreated the cover, that was a wild and amusing day but the poster has long gone sadly.

 

Midnight Maruaders was ATCQ's trifecta and a superb follow up to the classic Low End Theory (1991) album and was just generally a great feel good album filled with positivity and dope jazz loops, crisp drum breaks and funk and soul samples supplied by Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Skeff Anslem (he gets props too) and Q-Tip with Q-Tip and Phife dropping some of their greatest verses of their careers and had "the funky diabetic" Phife telling us that his fave rap group in the World was EPMD (I agreed) and that "if he ever went solo my favourite MC would be me"

The LP will most likely be remembered for the dope Large Professor produced and guested track "Keep It Rollin" where Large Pro announced his solo album and for us to "buy the album when I drop it", as fans will know this album was never officially released due to label politics and b.s.

 
I remember taping the "Award Tour" video off TV and playing it pretty much every night (along with a ton of '93 classics that I had compiled on VHS tapes) and eventually heading to Allan's CD's to pick up the CD.

 

I picked up this album (from memory) around 2 weeks after the US release on import, needless to it was on constant rotation but "Sucka N--a" was the track the stood out to me the most after "Award Tour" & "Midnight" but in all honesty there wasn't a weak track on Midnight Marauders and the album has definitely stood the test of time.

I had a few Friends that picked up the album on vinyl and we thought it was dope that there were different versions of the cover and that they changed up who appeared on the cover and it was a great way to past the time to pick them all out, I raise a toast to the great ATCQ for blessing us with great and timeless music and for the legacy they leave in Hip Hop after their final tour in 2013.






 Check the links...

atcqs-midnight-marauders-turns-20-delve-into-the-story-of-its-arwork-and-the-intricacies-of-its-sonics
20th-anniversary-focus-a-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders-jive-1993
uncovered-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders-cover-art-director-nick-gamma
today_in_hip-hop_a_tribe_called_quest_midnight_marauders_turns_twenty
tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders samples
a-tribe-called-quest-midnight-marauders


 
Big props to DJ Sav One and Mark 563 and Slurg for some of the scans used in this post.

"Seven times out of ten, we listen to our music at night"

Keep bouncin'...
 
This post is dedicated to the late Rob Arona, sadly this old Friend passed before the release of this album and I knew he would have loved it as he was a huge Tribe fan.

Wu-Tang Clan-'Enter The Wu-Tang' (36 Chambers) 20 years on...

Man I am old haha...yes indeed kids...we have finally arrived at the 20 year anniversary of the one of the rawest, illest and greatest and game changing albums in Hip Hop history a true landmark of an album, the album I am referring to is of course the debut album from the legendary Wu-Tang Clan released on Loud records November 9th in 1993.

I remember the day I first heard this album, the day that the Hip Hop world was properly introduced to the Staten Island (Shaolin) clique known as The RZA, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon The Chef,  Inspectah Deck,The GZA, Old Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.), U-God, Masta Killa and Method Man aka the Wu-Tang Clan.



I actually had to borrow the CD from the radio station I worked at as one of they were sent a promo copy and that CD did not leave my player for months, it was easily the most requested album on the Wednesday Nite Jam show throughout the 90's as well.



I eventually found the tape on import at Allan's CD's and I fondly remember DJing at and attending mad parties where either the whole album was played or people chose their favourite tracks.



I later got my own CD along with a few of the 12"s and I like many of you was Wu-Sane (Insane for the Wu) I had to buy every solo album from the original 9 members, every magazine, a couple of t-shirts, every album one of them appeared on etc and I still have most of them in storage but over time, albums were swapped, sold or given away.



I even had a manilla folder where I would write up discography's for each members resume, the Wu are still an important part of my life and always will be, I still dig at lot of what they record and I am looking forward to the next album, it was a true honour to be able to support the legendary Ghostface Killah & Killah Priest with my former crew Evil Mule in 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand.

That will always go down as one of the greatest moments and memories for me personally, so much of my life and listening time has been made up because of the Wu Tang Clan and I raise a toast to the entire crew for bringing back the realness to NYC Hip Hop for showing wack rappers the exit sign, for teaching producers how to make muddy and raw dope beats with ill Kung-Fu soundbites and little to no polish in the mixing, for teaching wack MC's how to really rhyme, , the power of words, have incredible wordplay, style and charisma and kick the truth and deliver messages to the "young black youth"...



 












If I set my mind to it, I could write a 100 page essay on the Wu but I will leave it here and tell you to listen to the album and if you feel like it, leave a comment on how the Enter The 36 Chambers album affected and participate in the poll below for the dopest track on the album.

Round up of links celebrating the landmark 20 year anniversary

egotripland: If you ever wondered why Wu-Tang rocked stocking...
20-year-anniversary-of-wus-enter-36
wu-tang-clan-36-chambers-anniversary
wu-tang-clans-enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-at-20-classic-track-by-track
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-a-roundtable-retrospective
15-fun-facts-about-wu-tang-clans-36-chambers
wu-tang-clan-enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-oral-history
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-20th-anniversary
wu-tang-clan-enter-36-chambers-20th-anniversary-retrospective
enter-wu-tang-36-chambers-samples
celebrate-20th-anniversary-enter-wu-tang-36-chambers
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-is-still-locked-and-loaded
im-feeling-old-wu-tang-enter-the-36-chambers-turns-20-years-old
http://www.stereogum.com/1557582/enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-turns 20
enter-the-wu-tang-36-chambers-turns-20/franchises/the-anniversary






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