ba-ba-baaah..

ba-ba-baah…

You’re already dancing aren’t you? Ali Shaheed Muhammad should get the Nobel Prize for beatsmithery.

That Weldon Irvine sample that kicks off the first single from 1993′s “Midnight Mauraders” triggers a pavlovian head-nod in any fan of hip-hop. That the first voice we hear is Trugoy from De La Soul, is fitting on an album that featured a who’s who of hip hop from that year (including the last two subjects of this series).  This album, and this song in particular, felt like the moment when Tribe best balanced their heady-positivity with club banging beats.

Not sure why the video has him pointing to the Brooklyn Bridge when he says “takin’ it to Queens side”, but otherwise this simple video captures the Tribe dynamic perfectly.