Side B

“Mobius”  

“Mobius” kicks off the second half of We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service in groovy fashion.  Consequence reappears, spitting with a tough-as-nails flow.  Busta Rhymes makes a third appearance, arguably his best.  “Black Spasmodic” follows, incorporating a tropical-infused sound. Consequence hangs around, handling hook duties. Notably, Phife appears here posthumously, ferociously spitting the first verse:

“Trash rap the dead, pussy kill the chirping / no more f*ck boys, sit down, shit can only get worse.” 

“The Killing Season” 

https://youtu.be/yLdNm9tGei8

 “The Killing Season” brings on Talib Kweli and Kanye West.  While Kweli raps the entire first verse, West’s contributions are minimal – the repetitive, sung hook.  Consequence and Jarobi have verses. “Lost Somebody” is a thoughtful, dedication to Phife, featuring Q-Tip and Jarobi fittingly handling rapping duties.  Katia Cadet sings the memorializing hook:

“Have you ever loved somebody? / Way before you got to dream? / No more crying, he’s in sunshine.”

“Movin Backwards”

“Movin Backwards” adds the brilliant Anderson .Paak, who stands out from the first note he sings. That’s not before Jarobi lights things up with ferocious, unapologetic rhymes. Q-Tip isn’t left out of the action, arriving on the third verse:

“Moving backwards never, that was never the plan / Can I vent? I was content being my own man / up until that night ill-fated, walking home I was faded / Po put braces on my wrist like he was clapping his hands…”

“Conrad Tokyo” is interesting, notably because the late Phife raps about Donald Trump – now the 45^th president of the U.S.  He is joined by Kendrick Lamar on the second verse, who is in his element tackling political and social issues.  Q-Tip handles all duties on penultimate joint “Ego.” Among his most potent rhymes:

“The ego makes you do it, it makes you face the music / or run away from life so fast that you’ll outsprint Carl Lewis / It has you think your deceptive ways of being are the truest / had the prettiest brown eyes but you change them shits to the bluest / it’s the ego.”

Fittingly, “The Donald” concludes the LP.  “The Donald” references Phife, providing another tribute to the beloved Quest member.  Phife appears on his own tribute track.

Final Thoughts

We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service is the final album by A Tribe Called Quest. All in all, it is superb without question.  To reiterate, groups like A Tribe Called Quest are once in a lifetime.  Listening to We Got It from Here, it is clear that rap doesn’t sound like this particular effort anymore – that’s part of the allure and what makes it special.  We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service – among the best albums of 2016.

Gems: “The Space Program,” “We the People…,” “Kids,” “Melatonin,” “Lost Somebody,” “Ego” & “The Donald”  

A Tribe Called Quest • We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service • Epic • Release: 11.18.16  

Photo Credit: Epic