Those Last Two Tribe Albums

[battlecatmeowstab212]

Didn't want to clog the Phife threads with a discussion on Beats Rhymes Life and The Love Movement, so I thought now's as good of a time as any to discuss these two records.

How did you feel about them when they dropped? How do you feel about them now? Do you have a preference between the two?

[Philaflava]

BR&L definitely caught a lot of unnecessary hate. Between all the Dilla influence and Consequence all over the album, you can understand why fans who grew up on their first 3 were a bit underwhelmed. I think it aged pretty well given the era and it's a pretty good album. Not classic by any means, but damn good.

The Love Movement was real bad. It was a forced attempt to fulfill their Jive obligations. None of their hearts were in it and save a couple of tracks, the rest was disposable.

[stype_ones]

BR&L basically controlled the entire month of August for me and my crew. That was the last summer most of us were able to just chill all day and night playing ball, drinking 40's and smoking blunts. By the next summer, we all had jobs to occupy our time. Aside from the various Stretch and Mayhem tapes that were always in rotation, the boom box I carried around every single day (we all had driver licenses but no one had a car) had 4 albums in constant rotation. June was Reasonable Doubt, July was It Was Written and Stakes Is High, and August was BR&L. Anytime I hear any of those albums I get super nostalgic for that summer. Obviously there were better years musically and in life, but that summer of 96 was mad fun, and I was bagging chicks left and right as well.

BR&L is a very good, flawed album. If that makes any sense. First of all, with Tip going through his conversion to Islam and all that entailed, he was sort of at a cross roads and I don't think very confident in his rhymes. And you can hear it- of course there are a couple of joints where he really comes off, but overall I just felt like he was caught in between wanting to be this super spiritual dude, and still the same MC he always was. Even in the Source article supporting the album, they said that this would be the last album that TIp every cursed on. So I think his rhymes just suffered as a result of all this stuff. Phife I thought did a good job on this album, but there just seemed to be a lack of chemistry between him and Tip, which we later found out to be true in the doc. Like Gloss said, throwing Consequence into the mix and having the Ummah come to light from a production standpoint really turned a lot of people off who were looking for that classic Tribe sound. I, like all of us in the last week, have revisited all the Tribe albums for the millionth time and I think BR&L stand up as a good effort, but CLEARLY, which we even knew then, nothing compared to the first 3. Almost like a totally different group.

As for TLM.. I don't really know how to feel about this album. I remember buying it the day it came out and just being so sad at the clear lack of chemistry or heart. It was like they weren't a group anymore. In listening to it a couple of times this last weekend, I still don't know how I feel about the album. It just feels really cold to me and that was always the opposite of what I felt when listening to a Tribe album.

[Philaflava]

Pretty spot on. I think that whole east/west shit kinda played a role in what Tip was suppose to be as an emcee. What people expected from him. What he expected from himself. You're right, his spiritual side definitely played a role in where he was mentally at this time.

[step one]

recently re-visited BR&L to see if there were any sleepers I missed out on (sometimes you want some less familiar tracks instead of the well worn classics) Been enjoying 'Get A Hold' since then. Pretty much Ummah/Tribe by numbers but a nice sample and good head nod track



There was a whole bunch of white label bootleg joints post BR&L/pre Love Movement that kind of fall into this category too. Not amazing but nice enough to listen to in the context of a mixtape or whatever.

[dustyhands]

I didn't like them when they dropped. Beats Rhymes and Life had some hot tracks on it though. My favorite thing about TLM was that it had the Scenario remix on it and I didn't have a version of it on cd. I hated the album.

[madstadik]

Word Play was dope!

[vincentlopez]

My expectations for BR&L were sky high when it came out and I swore it would be in my top 3 albums of 1996. Had I been 14 and not 23 at the time it was released, I might have enjoyed it more but it has consistently underwhelmed me every year. I listened to it again immediately after Phife's death and there are a couple of ok songs there but I simply don't feel the same Tribe energy that I had grown to love with the first 3 releases.

The LM was even worse and I only bought it for the bonus CD. Fortunately, I had little expectations for it so I wasn't as upset.

I have to say that I really appreciate groups like Tribe and De La Soul more than ever now especially as we (I) age. Back in the 80's and 90's, I never thought of a future where my favorite youthful rappers would age and die from health related issues but it's happening every year. How naive was I...

[SYM]

Just seeing this thread. Definitely have thoughts.

BR&L was a fine album, but not a great Tribe record.

TLM was a huge disappointment either which way you put it, Tribe or whomever. Did Jive ever manage to sell off all of its "Limited Editions?" Everywhere you looked, five, seven, ten years after the album came out, all you saw were the limited editions because TLM was either bought by less than 5,000 people (as the limited edition suggested) or sold instantaneously to bargain bins for years to come. Hard to believe this album went gold because I'd be hard pressed to find any copy of this album that exists without this association.

To that point, I would argue that the overall production choice to make a secondary group of songs was what ultimately hurt the flow of the album. Instead of whatever TLM was supposed to be, Jive could have easily just incorporated the bonus tracks within the album, instead of making 14 dull ass tracks followed by 7 great ones.

[Verge]

Get a hold was my favorite cut off brl when it dropped and still is today. That drifting sample

Find a Way, I didn't love when it dropped but I do now.

[clark bent]

brl is a legitimately great album unfortunately for its legacy tribes first three albums are other worldly

the love movement is sad and depressing except for busta's lament which is amazing

[Thun]

Beats, Rhymes, and Life is their second best album. Yes, I said it. Step to me.

[ChaMerZ]

Get a hold was my favorite cut off brl when it dropped and still is today. That drifting sample

Find a Way, I didn't love when it dropped but I do now.

It has such a nice sample though. One of my favorite Tribe tracks, although the album it came from wasn't that great.

[stype_ones]

Beats, Rhymes, and Life is their second best album. Yes, I said it. Step to me.

I'm curious which you think is their best?

[Philaflava]

Beats, Rhymes, and Life is their second best album. Yes, I said it. Step to me.

[Gyangsta 4 Life]

Love Movement is slept on. I'll take it over the first two.

Find A Way
Steppin' It Up - "plus in Trinidad I'm treated like the Mighty Sparrow" -Phife
Like It Like That
Common Ground
His Name Is Mutty Ranks
Pad & Pen
Busta's Lament
The Love
Rock Rock Y'all

BRL > MM > TLM

[Gyangsta 4 Life]

I'd kill for an instrumental of "Get A Hold" btw. Youtube version is looped.

[clark bent]

Love Movement is slept on. I'll take it over the first two.

wtf?