Native Tongues

Last updated
Native Tongues
Origin New York City, U.S.
Genres
Years active1988 – late 1990s
Past members Jungle Brothers
De La Soul
A Tribe Called Quest
Monie Love
Queen Latifah
Black Sheep
Chi-Ali

The Native Tongues was a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and jazz-influenced beats. Its principal members were the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Monie Love, and Queen Latifah. The collective was also closely tied to the Universal Zulu Nation. Rolling Stone cites the track "Doin' Our Own Dang" as "the definitive Native Tongues posse cut". [3]

Contents

Naming

The Native Tongues took their name from a line in the song "African Cry", by Motown-offshoot funk group New Birth, which features the lyric, "took away our native tongues". [4]

History

The New York City-based Native Tongues crew was a collective of like-minded hip hop artists who would help bring abstract and open-minded lyricism that addressed a range of topics—from spirituality and modern living to race, sex, and just having fun—to the mainstream. Together with the use of eclectic samples that would take on an increasingly jazzy sound, they would be pioneers of so-called conscious hip hop, alternative hip hop, and jazz rap.

De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove recalled: "The Native Tongues came about where, basically, we had a show together in Boston. [De La Soul], Jungle [Brothers] and we linked from there. We had a natural love for the art and a natural love for each other on how we put stuff together. So we invited [the Jungle Brothers] to a session, and when they hooked up with us, we happened to be doing "Buddy." It wasn't business; it wasn't for a check. It was just trading ideas and just seeing what you're doing. Bottom line, it was just having fun." [5]

According to Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest: "I remember Afrika [Baby Bam] called me that night, like, two in the morning. "Yo these kids, De La Soul, you gotta meet ’em! I swear we're just alike!" I went there, met them, and it was just fuckin' love at first sight. It was disgusting. In hip hop, it praises individualism. I think that's the main achievement of the Native Tongues. It just showed people could come together." [6]

Fostered by Kool DJ Red Alert, the success of the Jungle Brothers would pave the way for De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest; together, these three groups would form the core of the crew and continue the spirit of Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation. By 1989 they had been joined by Queen Latifah and the United Kingdom's Monie Love, and soon by the Black Sheep and Chi-Ali. Collectively, the members of the Native Tongues had a huge effect on the style and trends of hip hop during its most important period, the golden age of the late 1980s–early 1990s. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul's albums of this time are considered among the best and most important in the hip hop genre.

If you’re old enough, recall the naive early-'90s moment when young rappers from Nassau County and so forth were so brave they considered mellow and humorous a righteous path as well as a commercial ploy.

— Robert Christgau, 2019 [7]

While featuring an extensive discography, the collaborations of the Native Tongues have been fairly limited: the collective never recorded anything under that name, and the number of notable crew cuts can be counted on one hand. The various groups grew distant with time, and, by 1993, De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove proclaimed, "That native shit is dead."[ citation needed ]

Legacy

The Native Tongues are regarded as one of the first alternative hip hop movements; by diverging from popular models of hard-edged braggadocio, pursuing more experimental subject matter, and sampling more diverse types of music, they renewed the focus on individualism in hip hop. The innovations of the Native Tongues have been credited with facilitating the emergence of artists such as OutKast, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams. [8]

In 2019, the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., launched an annual Native Tongues Festival to celebrate the musical legacy of the Native Tongues. [9]

Members

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Tribe Called Quest</span> American hip hop group

A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985, originally composed of rapper and main producer Q-Tip, rapper Phife Dawg, DJ and co-producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and rapper Jarobi White. The group is regarded as a pioneer of alternative hip hop and merging jazz with hip hop, influencing numerous hip hop and R&B musicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">De La Soul</span> American hip hop group

De La Soul is an American hip hop group formed in 1988 in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres. Kelvin "Posdnuos" Mercer, David "Trugoy the Dove" Jolicoeur, and Vincent "Maseo" Mason formed the group in high school and caught the attention of producer Prince Paul with a demo tape of the song "Plug Tunin'".

East Coast hip hop is a regional subgenre of hip hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in The Bronx, New York City.

<i>Done by the Forces of Nature</i> 1989 studio album by Jungle Brothers

Done by the Forces of Nature is the second studio album by American hip hop group Jungle Brothers, released on November 7, 1989, by Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in 1989 at Calliope Studios in New York City, and production was handled by the Jungle Brothers. It was mixed at Apollo Studios by Kool DJ Red Alert and the Jungle Brothers. The album's title may refer to a line from the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, wherein Krishna says, "Those who are deluded by the illusive power (Maya) of Nature become attached to the work done by the forces of nature," 3:28.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Zulu Nation</span> International hip hop awareness group

The Universal Zulu Nation is an international hip hop awareness group formed by electro/hip hop artist Afrika Bambaataa.

Jazz rap is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre, that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter." The rhythm was rooted in hip hop over which were placed repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation: trumpet, double bass, etc. Groups involved in the formation of jazz rap included A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, and Jungle Brothers.

<i>Midnight Marauders</i> 1993 studio album by A Tribe Called Quest

Midnight Marauders is the third studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on November 9, 1993, by Jive Records. Recording sessions for the album occurred at Battery Studios, Platinum Island Studios and Scorcerer Sound in New York City. Its production was mainly handled by Q-Tip, with contributions from Skeff Anselm, Large Professor and the group's DJ, Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A culmination of the group's two previous albums, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and The Low End Theory, it features an eclectic, gritty sound based on jazz, funk, soul and R&B samples, in addition to socially conscious, positively-minded, and humorous lyrics.

<i>Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm</i> 1990 studio album by A Tribe Called Quest

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is the debut studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on April 10, 1990, on Jive Records. After forming the Native Tongues collective and collaborating on several projects, A Tribe Called Quest began recording sessions for People's Instinctive Travels in late 1989 at Calliope Studios with completion reached in early 1990. The album's laid back production encompassed a diverse range of samples which functioned as a template for the group's unorthodox lyrics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Q-Tip (musician)</span> American rapper and producer (born 1970)

Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American rapper, record producer, singer, and DJ. Nicknamed the Abstract, he is noted for his innovative jazz-influenced style of hip hop production and his philosophical, esoteric and introspective lyrical themes. He embarked on his music career in the late 1980s, as an MC and main producer of the influential alternative hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. In the mid-1990s, he co-founded the production team The Ummah, followed by the release of his gold-certified solo debut Amplified in 1999. In the following decade, he released the Grammy Award-nominated album The Renaissance (2008) and the experimental album Kamaal the Abstract (2009).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phife Dawg</span> American rapper (1970–2016)

Malik Izaak Taylor, known professionally as Phife Dawg, was an American rapper and a member of the group A Tribe Called Quest with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. He was also known as the "Five-Foot Assassin" and the "Five-Footer," because he stood at just 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m).

Lucien M'baïdem, better known as Lucien Revolucien, also Lucien M'B and Papalu, is a French hip-hop artist who was influential in the hip-hop movement in France in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden age hip-hop</span> Hip hop music from around 1985–1995

Golden age hip hop refers to hip hop music created from the mid or mid-late 1980s to the early or early-mid 1990s, particularly by artists and musicians originating from the New York metropolitan area. A precursor to the new-school hip hop movement, it is characterized by its diversity, quality, innovation and influence on overall hip hop after the genre's emergence and establishment in the old-school era, and is associated with the development and eventual mainstream success of hip hop. There were various types of subject matter, while the music was experimental and the sampling from old records was eclectic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Award Tour</span> 1993 single by A Tribe Called Quest featuring Trugoy

"Award Tour" is a song by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released in October 1993 by Jive Records as the first single from their third album, Midnight Marauders (1993). The song features rapper Trugoy on the chorus, from the fellow Native Tongues group De La Soul. It contains a sample of "We Gettin' Down" by Weldon Irvine, from his 1975 album Spirit Man. The B-side of the single is the original version of the Midnight Marauders track "The Chase, Pt. 2", which notably features the first known verse by future Tribe collaborator Consequence. "Award Tour" remains Tribe's highest charting single to date on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 47. It also peaked at number 54 on the Cash Box Top 100 as well as topping the Billboard Dance Singles chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy (De La Soul song)</span> 1988 song by De La Soul

"Buddy" is the third single released by De La Soul from their album 3 Feet High and Rising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Jolicoeur</span> American rapper (1968–2023)

David Jude Jolicoeur, also known as Trugoy the Dove, Plug Two, and Dave, was an American rapper best known as one third of the hip hop group De La Soul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kool DJ Red Alert</span> American DJ

Frederick Crute, known professionally as Kool DJ Red Alert, is an Antiguan-American disc jockey who rose to fame on WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM in New York City and is recognized as one of the founding fathers of hip hop music and culture. His weekly radio show airs on WBLS 107.5 FM from Monday to Saturday at 6pm EST.

<i>Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest</i> 2011 film by Michael Rapaport

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest is a 2011 documentary film about the music group A Tribe Called Quest, directed by Michael Rapaport. The film was released on July 8, 2011, by Sony Pictures Classics.

Bob Power is an American two time Grammy Award–nominee and multi-platinum record producer, audio engineer, composer, arranger, performer, and music educator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jungle Brothers</span> American hip hop trio

Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop duo composed of Michael Small, & Nathaniel Hall. Hailed as pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip-hop group to collaborate with a house-music producer. The trio released their debut album, Straight out the Jungle in July 1988. Their hip-house club hit single, "I'll House You" was added to the album in late-1988 reissues. Fostered by Kool DJ Red Alert, the Jungle Brothers' success paved the way for De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and eventually the Native Tongues collective that they founded.

Progressive rap is a broad subgenre of hip hop music that aims to progress the genre thematically with socially transformative ideas and musically with stylistic experimentation. Developing through the works of innovative US hip hop acts during the 1980s and 1990s, it has also been known at various points as conscious, underground, and alternative hip hop.

References

  1. ↑ Johnson, Kevin C. (December 23, 2011). "Q&A: Local artists pay tribute to Native Tongues rap acts". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  2. ↑ Reed, Ryan (November 10, 2022). "Psych-Rap: A Trippy History: Inside hip-hop's legacy of mind expansion, from acid-rock to A$AP Rocky". Tidal. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  3. ↑ Relic, Peter (2004). "Jungle Brothers". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp.  444–45. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  4. ↑ Thurm, Eric (5 July 2013). "A beginner's guide to hip-hop collective Native Tongues". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  5. ↑ Staff (21 September 2014). "Day of Trugoy The Dove". Global Exchange Chronicles. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Coplan, Chris (10 January 2014). "Q-Tip, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jonah Hill are making a TV show". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Christgau, Robert (September 18, 2019). "Consumer Guide: September 2019". Substack. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  8. ↑ Abrams, Jonathan (2022). The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop. Crown. p. 256–57. ISBN   9781984825155.
  9. ↑ Kimble, Julian (19 July 2019). "Native Tongues festival brings together hip-hop's past and present". The Washington Post . Retrieved 20 October 2020.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.