We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
About this Album
We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service is the sixth and final studio album by A Tribe Called Quest, released November 17, 2016, their first new album in eighteen years after disbanding in the wake of 1998's The Love Movement.[3]
The group reunited for a surprise appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 13, 2015, the same evening as the Paris terrorist attacks. The energy of that performance convinced Q-Tip the group could return to the studio, and they began recording in secret at his home studio in New Jersey, nicknamed the AbLab.[3]
Phife Dawg, managing diabetes that required dialysis several times a week, traveled to New Jersey to work alongside Q-Tip for roughly four months. He died on March 22, 2016, from complications of the disease, and Q-Tip finished the album afterward. The title was Phife's idea, kept by the surviving members even though its full meaning was never entirely settled among them.[3][4]
Released days after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the album was widely received as both a eulogy for Phife and a protest record, confronting xenophobia, racial fear, and media complicity with a bleaker, grimier sound than the group's earlier work. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became the best-reviewed hip-hop album of the year, with critics calling it a fitting and urgent final statement.[3][7][8]
Songs
References
- We the People.... (song) - Wikipedia — Writing/production credits, chart performance, and critical reception for the single.
- We the People.... by A Tribe Called Quest - Songfacts — Q-Tip quote on the song's intent and the Black Sabbath sample source.
- We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service - Wikipedia — Album background, recording history, Phife Dawg's death, and critical reception.
- A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg Dead at 45 - Rolling Stone — Details on Phife Dawg's death and its place in the album's creation.
- A Tribe Called Quest played 'SNL' with Busta Rhymes & Consequence - BrooklynVegan — Coverage of the group's Saturday Night Live performance days after the 2016 election.
- A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes Call Out 'President Agent Orange' in Politically-Charged Grammy Performance - Variety — Account of the 2017 Grammy Awards performance of the song.
- Album Review: A Tribe Called Quest, We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service - Consequence — Critical assessment of the album's tone and themes.
- Review: A Tribe Called Quest Make Urgent Return on We Got It From Here - Rolling Stone — Critical reception of the album as an urgent final statement.