Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest
Written by Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by Ron Butler
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
The seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest brought jazz into the genre, resurrecting timeless rhythms to create masterpieces. This narrative follows Tribe from their early days as part of the Afrocentric rap collective known as the Native Tongues, through their first three classic albums, to their eventual breakup and long hiatus. Their work is placed in the context of the broader rap landscape of the 1990s, one upended by sampling laws that forced a reinvention in production methods, the East Coast-West Coast rivalry that threatened to destroy the genre, and some record labels’ shift from focusing on groups to individual MCs.
Throughout the narrative, poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib connects the music and cultural history to their street-level impact. Whether he’s remembering The Source magazine cover announcing the Tribe’s 1998 breakup or writing personal letters to the group after bandmate Phife Dawg’s death, Abdurraqib seeks the deeper truths of A Tribe Called Quest, truths that — like the low end, the bass — are not simply heard in the head but are felt in the chest. Digging into the group’s history, Abdurraqib draws from his own experience to reflect on how its distinctive sound resonated among fans like himself. The result is as ambitious and genre-bending as the rap group itself.
Editor's Note
A love letter to Tribe…
Don’t miss this lyrical and brainy love letter to hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest and the group’s trailblazing MCs, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg. Like Tribe, this poetic history of the music’s cultural impact and historical context is beyond classification, and you won’t want to stop listening.
Hanif Abdurraqib
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic. His work has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, PEN American, Muzzle, and Vinyl. He is the author of multiple books, including They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, which was named a book of the year by Buzzfeed, Esquire, and NPR, among others; and Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest, a New York Times Bestseller and Kirkus Prize nominee. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.
More audiobooks from Hanif Abdurraqib
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Fortune For Your Disaster: Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sing, Aretha, Sing!: Aretha Franklin, “Respect,” and the Civil Rights Movement Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for Go Ahead in the Rain
58 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was everything I wanted from a music history and has really got me thinking about writing about music. I've been feeling dreamy all week thinking about this book, made a playlist for it on Google Play (Abdurraqib said he made a playlist on Spotify of songs sampled by Tribe, so you should definitely check that out), and wish now that Abdurraqib could write all history for me. This was great, too, because I think I may be a hair older than the author, but we're essentially the same age, so it was cool to get his take on things as someone who came of age in the same era. Anywho, if you love music, love reading about music, love Tribe, are only a little familiar with Tribe, have no idea who Tribe is, love history and social commentary, love memoir, love beautiful writing...this book is for you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A fascinating twining of the history of Tribe the history of rap and of Black music more broadly, the history of Abdurraqib and the history of America. The language here is spectacular, Abdurraqib's music knowledge is encyclopedic, and this man can write. This is a deeply personal book that ends up being an exploration of what it means, to be a Black man, of all the different forms that can take while still sharing so many commonalities. I thought it dragged in the middle a bit and never regained the energy of the first half which was unbelievably good) but it was still excellent.