Info

Mos Def’s Lost A Tribe Called Quest Intro (UNRELEASED)

Back in ‘98 I was Hip-Hop Music Director at WTJU in Charlottesville, Virginia. The nondescript position made me privy to treats like an advance copy of A Tribe Called Quest’s then last hurrah, The Love Movement. OG promo man Al Lindstrom had been servicing me with music from Jive Records for a minute so after a few pestering phone calls (e-mail? nah.) he sent me the CD advance, making me that ninja amongst my inner circle of Hip-Hop heads.

The proliferation of MP3 blogs has pretty much deaded proper advances for most major label releases. More often than not, the best you get is a watermarked copy with annoying commentary to discourage bootlegging or worse yet, the corny listening session where every ass kiss journo raves about how this is the album of the year.

The point of this inaugural Rare Joints post is that The Love Movement’s advance included the above intro track featuring Mos Def pontificating on the loveliness of ATCQ. The inclusion of the minute and change track probably wouldn’t have made the album’s initially lukewarm reception by fans and critics much better. But to its credit the The Love Movement has aged well in the ATCQ cannon, in no small part due to Jay Dee/J. Dilla’s sonic influence.

Props to Slangrap

www.eastzoo.com