A Tribe Called Quest Announce ‘Final’ Album
UPDATE: A Tribe Called Quest‘s final album, We Got It From Here … Thank You 4 Your Service, is now available to stream in full via Apple Music.
A Tribe Called Quest have announced they will be releasing their as-yet-untitled final album this fall. Revealing the news via social media, which featured handwritten notes in black and gold pen, Q-Tip unveiled what led to their coming together to work on new material prior to the death of Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor.
He wrote that it was around this time last year, on November 13th, that the group reunited to perform on The Tonight Show. “It was our first TV performance in 18 years,” he explained. “The energy for us that night was one that we hadn’t experienced onstage together in some time.”
Coincidentally, it was also the evening of the Paris bombing. “As we left 30 Rock, I felt the need, we all did, to get back to the studio and start that cook up. So we got to it,” he continued. “It was coming together nicely.”
However, on March 22nd, Phife Dawg died, but Q-Tip says that “he left us with the blueprint of what we had to do.” The surviving members then teamed with Busta Rhymes and Consequence. “We completed what will be, obviously, the final A Tribe Called Quest album.”
In August, Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid hinted at the seminal group’s forthcoming album when speaking with Rap Radar Podcast. “It’s something special,” he said. “It’s one of the things I’m most excited about over everything we’re working on.”
While Q-Tip, who described the new material as “that pure, unstepped on pure,” did not reveal the title of the album, he did unveil that it will be released on November 11th. The album marks the group’s first LP since 1998’s The Love Movement.
“We will complete our paths of rhythm,” Q-Tip concluded. “Join us!”
— ATCQ (@ATCQ) October 28, 2016