Midnight Marauders is released

Why it matters

Midnight Marauders came out November 9, 1993, the same day as Enter the Wu-Tang. It is A Tribe Called Quest's third album and the one that, depending on who you ask, is either their best or their second-best (the other contender being The Low End Theory). Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad produced. Phife Dawg is fully present this time. The organizing voice on the album is, literally, a voice: the woman narrator who introduces each track in deadpan instructional tone ("You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge") between songs. The production is denser than Low End Theory but still warm and bass-forward. "Award Tour," "Electric Relaxation," "Sucka N---a," "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)," "Oh My God." Q-Tip and Phife by 1993 had the chemistry of MCs who had been finishing each other's bars for years (they had been: they were childhood friends from Queens). Midnight Marauders sold more than a million copies on first release. If you wanted to teach somebody what a fully formed Native Tongues album sounds like, you would teach them this. You probably should.