A Brand New Classic - 25th Anniversary of "People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm"

Twenty-Five years ago a group by the name of A Tribe Called Quest burst onto the scene with their debut album People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. The album was critically acclaimed, even earning a perfect score from The Source. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that well received by the masses. Of course, those hip-hop fans back in the day were mistaken and Tribe went on to close out the Golden Age of Hip Hop and pave the way for many of our favorite rappers today.

In honor of their debut’s silver anniversary, Q-Tip and crew, but most likely RCA Records, decided to reissue People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, the album that brought us the classics/summer cookout anthems, “Bonita Applebum,” “Can I Kick It?” and “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo”. Bob Power, the engineer behind some of D’Angelo, De La Soul, and Common’s best records, remastered the album from the original tapes, making the sound rich and exquisite.

My only hope is that this re-release will serve to expose new hip-hop heads to the wonders of A Tribe Called Quest, and remind longtime fans of their groundbreaking genius. If sound quality isn’t enough for you to be bothered to check it out, the bonus tracks should do it for you. I won’t lie; at first I was apprehensive about Pharrell’s remix of “Bonita Applebum” and J.Cole’s remix of “Can I Kick It?” I mean, what could you possibly do to these two iconic songs besides ruin them? Well, I’m sorry for doubting you, Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Cole, you truly did justice to these masterpieces.