Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed (and sometimes Jarobi) have one of hip-hop’s most celebrated catalogs, but the group’s late 1990s output has always suffered in comparison to the trifecta of 1990s People’s Instinctive Travels and The Paths of Rhythm, 1991s The Low End Theory and 1993s Midnight Marauders. In the early 1990s, the group was on one of the best runs hip-hop has ever seen — and it proved to be a tough act to follow. But Beats Rhymes and Life holds a lot of significance for the crew from Queens, even if it took years for everyone to come around on its merits.

A Tribe Called Quest’s fourth album arrived drenched in controversy; fans were confused about the addition of Q-Tip’s cousin Consequence; Phife Dawg’s muted presence on the project seemed to indicate something was off internally — and the album’s sound was described as “dark” by those who expected the feel-good vibes of “Can I Kick It?” and “Check The Rhime.” The album’s first single “1nce Again” may have echoed that latter hit, but more often than not, Beats Rhymes and Life was a more downbeat affair overall.

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