Love Movement, The - A Tribe Called Quest > Reviews > Tribe At There Best!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money

Advantages:	All your fave Tribe Tracks
Disadvantages:	None !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

from The Land Where Hip-Hop And Jazz Live.
After releasing four albums, A Tribe Called Quest finally decides to put an end to their legacy. However, with The Love Movement, they definitely ended it on a good note. As usual, Q-Tip is the lyrical fronteer, but Phife comes up with some good lyrics as well. Very nice production done by The Ummah. Also, the great single "Find A Way" has one of the jazzy, noble beats that made the Tribe famous on their previous albums. "Da Booty" has a cool up-tempo beat and Q-Tip and Phife go back and forth nicely. "Steppin' It Up" features Redman and Busta Rhymes, and is a crazy track, with a Cannonball Adderley sample. Every emcee rips the mic on this song, but Redman steals the show with a hilarious verse. Then you have more laid-back tunes like "Like It Like That", which has a slow guitar loop and Q-Tip rapping solo, and "For Moms", which is an instrumental track featuring guitarist Spanky. Phife flexes his lyrical skill on "His Name Is Mutty Ranks", a bouncy reggae-flavored track that is only two minutes long. "Give Me" is a nice track featuring Noreaga, who comes off very nicely over a bouncy beat and catchy chorus. My favorite song on the album is the laid-back "Pad And Pen", which has a nice guitar loop and a cool feel to it. Q-Tip and Phife lyrically amaze here. There are decent girl tracks on here like "Hot For You", and the bouncy LL Cool J sampled "Against The World". Also a standout is Q-Tip's solo "The Love", which is a track about having love for people around you. "Rock Rock Y'all" features Mos Def, Jane Doe, Wordsworth and Punchline for a nice posse cut, however the beat isn't too good. The bonus tracks are very nice, especially the "Scenario" remix, which features Kid Hood and Leaders Of The New School, and the remix of "Oh My God" which has a somewhat disturbing late-night saxophone loop, but has nice lyrics from Q-Tip. The remix of "Jazz" is very good and bouncy, and Phife actually shines more than Q-Tip here. And of course the last song "One Two" which features Busta Rhymes, over a slow guitar beat, all three kick rough and rugged verses. Though this album does have a couple weak tracks, such as "Common Ground" which seems to have been thrown together and is dire filler, the weak introduction "Start It Up", which is repeatitive and boring in beat and lyrics, and the terribly wack and boring bonus track "Money Maker", in which Q-Tip raps for a long time but goes nowhere, there are enough good ones to make up for that. Definitely an album to pick up. Q-Tip's latest album wasn't good as it was too commercial, but if you want to appreciate the Tribe for what they were (a great group) peep People's Instinctive Travels Through The Paths Of Rhythm, or The Low End Theory, or Midnight Marauders, all of those albums are great, and The Love Movement is yet another good album from the Tribe.