Midnight Marauders (1993)

Midnight Marauders is the third studio album by American hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on November 9, 1993, by Jive Records. The recording sessions for the album occurred at Battery Studios, Platinum Island Studios, and Sorcerer Sound in New York City. It was produced primarily 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.

Midnight Marauders debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The first two singles, "Electric Relaxation" and "Award Tour", charted on the Billboard Hot 100, before the release of the final single, "Oh My God". On January 14, 1994, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States. It was certified platinum by the RIAA nearly a full year later, on January 11, 1995, with shipments of one million copies.

The album received mostly positive reviews from critics upon release. In the following years, Midnight Marauders has acquired further acclaim from within the hip-hop community for its production, chemistry and influence, with some regarding it as the group's best work, one of the greatest albums of the decade, and one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Several writers have credited it as a contributor to a "second golden age" of hip-hop in the mid-1990s, as well as the pinnacle of the Native Tongues movement. In 2020, it was ranked at number 201 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Recording

A Tribe Called Quest sought to further develop the bass-heavy sound of its previous album, The Low End Theory, with group member Q-Tip setting up his production equipment in the house basement of fellow member Phife Dawg's grandmother. Phife Dawg explained, "my grandmother gave him a key, the whole nine, he used to just go in and do his thing." Most of the album was planned in the basement, though Q-Tip also worked on outside projects there, including the beat for Nas's single "One Love", which appeared on his debut album Illmatic (1994). Rapper and producer Large Professor recalled the inviting, relaxed atmosphere in the basement: "[Phife Dawg] would just be there chilling, watching a basketball game or something, playing a video game and just listening to the beats, like, 'Yeah, yeah, I like that right there.' It was just so casual and cool ... just kind of sitting there and chillin' out, going to get something to eat, going through sounds and picking the sounds out. Telling a few jokes, watching some television like that; it was really nice. It wasn't forced in any way."

Phife Dawg recalled the pressure that the group faced to make a solid follow-up to The Low End Theory: "Obviously, that's a two-year wait, so there was a lot of pressure like, 'Can they do it again?' Q-Tip is really hands on, Tip is a genius, so by the time he was finished sequencing the album, I was lookin' at him sayin, 'Yo, b, we did it again.'" The album's title, Midnight Marauders, originated from Q-Tip's lyrics in the song "Vibes and Stuff" from The Low End Theory, though it was later interpreted by group member Ali Shaheed Muhammad that "A Tribe Called Quest are like sound thieves looting for your ears."

Recording sessions for Midnight Marauders took place at Battery Studios, Platinum Island Studios and Scorcerer Sound in New York City, over a period of nine months, ending in September 1993. All songs were mixed at Battery Studios and mastered at The Hit Factory in New York City. Production was mainly handled by Q-Tip, with contributions from Skeff Anselm, Large Professor and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, who also contributed DJ scratching. Raphael Saadiq (credited as Raphael Wiggins) played bass guitar on the song "Midnight".

Despite Jarobi White leaving the group midway through recording The Low End Theory, the group maintained a "revolving door policy" with him, in which he would continue to attend recording sessions and supply the group with humor that became part of their songwriting process. Clarifying his role, he stated, "You come in [to the studio]. You might have had a bad day today. Some lady might have pushed you on the train ... I walk in the studio and I'm bringing all my rambunctious silly stupid jokes and now we're all laughing."