A Tribe Called Quest is a Musicheads Essential Artist. A Tribe Called Quest is important because they changed the path of hip hop twice in a matter of three LPs alongside their fellow Native Tongues associated groups like the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest brought a musical adventurousness and Afro-centric spirit to hip hop that had an indelible impact on the art.

Hailing from Queens, New York, A Tribe Called Quest exuded a friendly, playful neighborhood vibe in their sound, and they told accessible stories about misplaced loves, misplaced beefs and misplaced wallets. The rambling and lighthearted vibe of Tribe's first record prepares you for the high-water mark in hip hop history that came about on their sophomore record, The Low End Theory. The group also singlehandedly moved the upright bass from a disregard relic of the Jazz Age into the paragon of cool for every hip hop producer's low-end needs. On their third album, Midnight Marauders, the Queens group introduced the Rhodes piano into their sonic palette and laid the blueprint for the next generation of Afro-centric artists.

After Midnight Marauders, differences within the group and frustrations with a notably shady record label. And after two underwhelming LPs, the group called it quits. When news broke on March 22, 2016, that Phife Dawg had passed away, the hip hop world more not only his death, but also the squandered potential of a group that couldn't work out the differences for almost 20 years. But shortly after Phife's passing, news rolled out that the group had been working on what will be their final masterpiece, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service. The group's final release lived up to the reputation of their finest work. It also connected their legacy with today's rising stars through collaborations with Anderson.Paak and Kendrick Lamar. It was a renaissance that no one could have predicted from the star-crossed group, but it helped reinforce their catalogue as absolute essential listening in the hip-hop world.