People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

A Tribe Called Quest formed in Queens, New York, in 1985.[2] After establishing a friendship with hip-hop act Jungle Brothers, both groups formed a collective dubbed Native Tongues, which also included De La Soul.[2]

Several years prior to recording People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, group member Q-Tip created much of the album's production on pause tapes when he was in the 10th grade.[3] He would have his first studio experience while recording with Jungle Brothers on their debut album Straight out the Jungle (1988).[4] Although this was a learning experience,[4] he acquired more recording and producing knowledge being present at all of De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising (1989) sessions.[5] Recording engineer Shane Faber taught Q-Tip how to use equipment such as the E-mu SP-1200 and Akai S950 samplers, and soon-after, renowned producer Large Professor taught him how to use other equipment, for which he would expand upon on People’s Instinctive Travels.[6]

Initially, record labels wouldn't sign A Tribe Called Quest due to their unconventional image and sound,[7] but took interest after the success of 3 Feet High and Rising, which featured appearances from Q-Tip.[6] The group hired Kool DJ Red Alert as their manager, and after shopping their demo to several major labels, they signed a contract with Jive Records in 1989.[6]

Recording for the album began in late 1989, and finished three months later in early 1990,[8] with "Pubic Enemy" and "Bonita Applebum" as the first tracks recorded.[7]

The group chose Calliope Studios as their primary studio, as it was renowned to promote artistic freedom.[7] Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah and Prince Paul with De La Soul and Stetsasonic, were all recording new music in separate rooms while A Tribe Called Quest recorded People’s Instinctive Travels.[7] Q-Tip later commented, "It was exciting. We were kinda left to our own devices. It was just a great environment, conductive for creating. We didn’t have cell phones, we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have a bunch of things to tear at us. When we got to the studio, the specific job was to make music. There was no TV in there. It was all instruments and speakers. It was just music".[7]

Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad would listen to records several seconds at a time, and re-work them in relationship with other records that would fit.[7] Ali played all live instruments, DJ scratches and programming, while Q-Tip handled everything else with production, including sampling and mixing.[9]

Although claiming that "we all helped put the album together", Q-Tip was the only group member present at every recording session.[6] Group member Phife Dawg later admitted, "I was being ignorant on that first album, that’s why I was only on a couple of tracks. I was hardly around. I would have rather hung out with my boys on the street and got my hustle on rather than gone in the studio. I wasn’t even on the contract for the first album. I was thinking me and Jarobi were more like back-ups for Tip and Ali, but Tip and Ali really wanted me to come through and do my thing".[6][10]

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm has been described as "a celebration of bohemia, psychedelia and vagabondia",[7] as well as "laid back".[2] The Los Angeles Times described the album as consisting of "mostly happy hip-hop, featuring gently humorous, casual, conversational raps".[11] Michael Blair from XXL wrote that "the innovative production on this album created an optimal platform for the group’s wildly inventive relationship with their words. From a lyrical standpoint, Tribe was both sophisticated and playful in the same breath".[12]

Much of the musical landscape on the album consisted of background noises such as a child crying, frogs and Hawaiian strings.[2] The jazz, R&B and rock samples that were used were from artists that most hip-hop producers of the time ignored, or who were unfamiliar with. For the known artists that were sampled, Q-Tip used breaks that were unique for those artists, which turned out to be highly influential for hip-hop production.[2][7] Ian McCann from NME stated "They break beats from anywhere they want ... and deliver them in an easy, totally sympathetic setting."[13] Entertainment Weekly’s Greg Sandow said the album "has a casual sound, something like laid-back jazz".[14]

Regarding the album's lyrics, Kris Ex from Pitchfork said "The rhymes here are at once conversational and repressed, the topics concurrently large and small. The lyrics are 25 years old. But were they released today they'd seem right on time."[15]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[16]
Chicago Tribune	[17]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[14]
NME	9/10[13]
Pitchfork	10/10[15]
Rolling Stone	[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[19]
The Source	5/5[20]
Spin	[21]
The Village Voice	B+[22]

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was met with widespread acclaim from critics. Ian McCann from NME wrote that "A Tribe Called Quest put no feet in the wrong place here. This is not rap, it's near perfection".[13] Entertainment Weekly's Greg Sandow commented that on the album, rather than "defining Afrocentric living", the group "more or less exemplifies it with no fuss at all".[14] Robert Tanzilo from Chicago Tribune stated that the album "avoids the gimmickry and circus atmosphere" of the group's contemporaries, while "focusing solely on the music".[17]

Writing for Los Angeles Times, Dennis Hunt called the album "fascinating" and wrote "These songs lope along in a quirkly, jazz-like pace. They're intriguingly non-linear and quite provocative, even though their meaning is somewhat elusive".[11] In an enthusiastic review, The Source gave it the first "five-mic" rating in the magazine's history,[15] and called it a "completely musical and spiritual approach to hip-hop," as well as "a voyage to the land of positive vibrations, and each cut is a new experience".[20] Chuck Eddy from Rolling Stone stated "the real pleasure on People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm comes from a detailed mesh of instruments and incidental sounds", but went on to say "the rappers of A Tribe Called Quest tend to mumble in understated monotones that feel self-satisfied, even bored".[18]

On several occasions acclaimed producer and vocalist Pharrell Williams has spoken on the album's influence.

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm has been recognized for widening hip-hop's vocabulary, as well as instrumentation and samples within hip-hop music.[7] It has also been recognized for influencing a wide range of acclaimed hip-hop and R&B artists, including Common, D'Angelo, Digable Planets, Erykah Badu, Fugees, J Dilla, Kendrick Lamar, Mos Def, Outkast and Kanye West.[15][7] Pharrell Williams stated "I listened to "Bonita" everyday. I'd never heard anything like that in my life. That's where I changed".[28] On another occasion, Williams explained that People's Instinctive Travels "caused a turning point in my life, which made me see that music was art."[29]

John Bush of AllMusic called People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm "the quiet beginning of a revolution in non-commercial hip-hop."[16] Pitchfork's Kris Ex stated that with the album the group "created and refined a template for '90s hip-hop that was street-astute, worldly, and more inspirational than aspirational".[15] In a commemorative article for XXL, Michael Blair wrote "What A Tribe Called Quest ultimately became the pioneers of, and was on full display throughout the production on their debut album, was a certain proficiency in illustrating and honoring a diverse array of genres that preceded them. In what is mostly attributed to Q-Tip’s deep appreciation and understanding of those definitive genres, Tribe’s sound was perpetually laced with elements of Jazz, Soul, R&B, and Funk". Blair concluded that "People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was immensely groundbreaking, and will eternally maintain its relevance within the culture and construction of hip-hop".[12]

Hip-hop journalist Harry Allen called the album a big turning point in hip-hop where you didn’t have to be "tough". A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad further elaborated that "LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, N.W.A, even Public Enemy, had a tough guy image. It was this bravado at the time that all the hip-hop artists had. People’s Instinctive Travels wasn’t any of that. We weren’t trying to be tough guys. It was about having fun, being lighthearted, being witty, being poetic. Just being good with one another. That’s what we presented. Just be. Just exist. Be comfortable in your own skin. People’s Instinctive Travels was about celebrating you, whoever you are".[7]

All tracks written and produced by A Tribe Called Quest. Credits from album liner notes.[30]

Partial sample credits

• "Push it Along" contains a sample from "Loran's Dance", as performed by Grover Washington Jr.[30]
• "Luck of Lucien" contains a sample from "Forty Days", as performed by Billy Brooks.[30]
• "Footprints" contains samples from "Sir Duke", as performed by Stevie Wonder and "Think Twice", as performed by Donald Byrd.[30]
• "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" contains a sample from "Let's Get Funky", as performed by The Chambers Brothers.[30]
• "Bonita Applebum" contains samples from "Daylight", as performed by RAMP, "Memory Band", as performed by Rotary Connection and "Soul Virgo", as performed by Cannonball Adderley.[30]
• "Can I Kick It?" contains samples from "Spinning Wheel", as performed by Lonnie Smith and "Walk on the Wild Side", as performed by Lou Reed.[30]
• "Mr. Muhammad" contains a sample from "Brazilian Rhyme", as performed by Earth, Wind & Fire.[30]
• "Ham 'n' Eggs" contains a sample from "Nappy Dugout", as performed by Funkadelic.[30]
• "Description of a Fool" contains a sample from "Running Away", as performed by Roy Ayers.[30]
• "Go Ahead in the Rain" contains a sample from "Slide", as performed by Slave.[30]

• Q-Tip – performer, production, mixing
• Ali Shaheed Muhammad – scratching, programming
• Phife Dawg – performer
• Jarobi White – performer
• Lucien – background vocals
• Bob Power – engineer
• Shane Faber – engineer
• Tim Latham – engineer
• Bob Coulter – engineer
• Anthony Saunders – engineer
• Kool DJ Red Alert – management, executive producer
• Paije Hunyady – cover art
• Bryant Peters – cover art
• Ari Marcopoulos – photography
• Justin Herz – photography

• List of hip hop albums considered to be influential

• People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm at Discogs (list of releases)
• People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)