The Low End Theory is released

Why it matters

The Low End Theory came out on Jive on September 24, 1991. It is A Tribe Called Quest's second LP and it is the album the canon usually picks first when it picks one Tribe album. Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad produced. Phife Dawg, who had been barely present on People's Instinctive Travels, is here as a full co-lead MC and turns out to be the perfect foil for Q-Tip's higher, smoother flow. The album's organizing idea is rap-meets-jazz, but rap-meets-jazz as a structural choice rather than a stylistic gesture. The bass on the record is acoustic upright bass, played in several spots by Ron Carter (yes, that Ron Carter, from Miles Davis's second great quintet). The drums are programmed but sparse. Q-Tip's production keeps the low end clean and the space open. Then Tip and Phife trade verses for forty-eight minutes. "Check the Rhime," "Jazz (We've Got)," "Scenario" (with the Leaders of the New School, the song that breaks Busta Rhymes). The Library of Congress added The Low End Theory to the National Recording Registry. You can put the album on right now and feel it lower your blood pressure. That is a real chemical effect.