Just when it looked like The Avalanches had the 'unlikely comeback of the year' award sewn up, legendary hip hop ensemble A Tribe Called Quest return with their first album in eighteen years, months after the death of group member Phife Dawg. Recorded at Q-Tip's home studio after the group's reunion on Jimmy Fallon, the set sees Q-Tip, Phife and Jarobi swapping the mic at will, exchanging couplets and finishing each other's lines like they'd never been apart. Musically, "We Got It From Here..." finds the group flipping their well loved jazz samples into contemporary arrangements alive with collaborative performances from a whole host of A-list guests, while the free flowing lyrics meditate on culture, sociology and the total shit show which is US politics. As a longtime fan of ATCQ, I'd have been happy with a decent rehash of their early nineties stylings, but "We Got It From Here" excels with modern production and pointed subject matter, serving up a stinging critique of society's ills over the most infectious grooves. Simply put, it's a masterpiece.
TRACK LISTING
1. The Space Program
2. We The People...
3. Whateva Will Be
4. Solid Wall Of Sound
5. Dis Generation
6. Kids...
7. Melatonin
8. Enough!!
9. Mobius
10. Black Spasmodic
11. The Killing Season
12. Lost Somebody
13. Movin Backwards
14. Conrad Tokyo
15. Ego
16. The Donald