A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels And the Paths of Rhythm (33 1/3)

I love this album and have tons of books from the 33 1/3 series. First of all the book came with obvious printing defects where half of the pages were so lightly inked it was very difficult to read in less than optimum light. That is not ideal but I could live with that. The book itself the author has made it all about his life with the album taking a backseat to his self absorbed history. I was hoping for more information about the collaborative process and how the album was made with all four of the artists working together to produce a classic debut album. Very disappointing.

33 and 1/3 has books about four hip-hop albums in addition to this one: Nas's Illmatic, Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, and DJ Shadow's Entroducing. Although I'm a huge A Tribe Called Quest fan, and although People's Instinctive Travels is often considered a "hip-hop classic," I think it is easily the least-great of the albums covered by these books; certainly among the ones that include vocals. The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders are all-time top-ten albums, in my opinion, and Tribe's fourth album (Beats, Rhymes, and Life) is criminally underrated... But I've just never really dug People's -- until now.Don't get me wrong, this is still my least favorite album in this series, and my least favorite Tribe album next to the group's uninspired finale (The Love Movement), but author Shawn Taylor's treatment of People's really gave me new perspective. One could argue that the book is too much about him, but I really identified with his connection to the album -- how songs remind him of times, places, events. Other albums do this for me, and it was interesting to walk in Taylor's shoes. He talks about being an "Afro-geek," and how Tribe made this cool -- at least for a while in 1990. By '91 and beyond, they were more straight-up boom-bap rap, and that's why I've always liked their subsequent albums better, but now I "get" People's, thanks to Taylor.Criticisms: I liked Taylor's approach, which was recalling old journal entries he made as a teenager listening to the album for the first time, and then listening to it in 2006 and recording his thoughts sixteen years later, but I could have done without some of the editorializing (i.e., footnotes telling readers to check out Handsome Boy Modeling School "for a sonic treat") -- I thought this was sort of unprofessional and disrupted the flow of the book. Also, while all other 33 and 1/3 books I've read draw on interviews with contributors to the album, the body of Taylor's book does not -- but it's not because he didn't try. Reportedly, no one involved in the album would return his calls, which is a shame. The lone exception is engineer Bob Power, whom Taylor interviewed for the final 15 pages of the book. The only problem here, of course, is that "the Bob Power sound" would not emerge until The Low End Theory, and thus it would have been a lot more interesting to read an interview with Power about the later Tribe albums than this one.Of all the 33 and 1/3 books, this is easily the most deeply personal. It isn't as in-depth as the books on PE, the Beastie Boys, and Nas, but it is an interesting look at how this strange little album was perceived by a young NYC black man in 1990, and how it has influenced his life over the past sixteen years. I'd definitely recommend reading the Nation of Millions, Paul's Boutique, and Illmatic books ahead of this one, but make this fourth on your list.

My husband loves this collection of cds. They are all a bit different but I’ve bought six cds from this brand.

Interesting point of view, but still a good read.

Shawn Taylor’s look at A Tribe Called Quest’s debut album shines a light on just how out of step it was with mainstream hip-hop in 1990, and how it remains so today. He does this by recounting his own experiences listening to the album as an outcast teenager in 1990 and contrasting them with his experience listening to the album on a 2006 ride through San Francisco’s transit system. Although there’s not much insight into who A Tribe Called Quest were, or how they made the album, Taylor’s writing style is honest and endearing. Those looking for more behind-the-scenes info can flip to the end of the book for a revealing interview with album engineer Bob Power, although it feels like it was tacked on at the last minute to pad out the page count. Despite that one minor complaint, Taylor does a good job of demonstrating why the album is an alternative-rap classic.

Because I paid for the book and want to get my "money's worth". The 33 1/3 books are a tricky series. Some are very insightful and others are just an ego massage or merely waxing poetic. I don't fault the guy for his upbringing and views but really that is not why I bought the book. The best part is at the end with the twenty questions posed to Bob Power. Really - it is a shame. Skip this book and just check out the movie "Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest".

I, for one, admire the personal approach of this book. Instead of apocryphal stories and ego placation, Shawn Taylor takes us on a journey that mirrors many of our own. Rather than simply investigate the who, what, when, and wheres and regurgitate interviews that can easily be accessed on-line, he gets to the bottom of why we love ATCQ, and even makes a strong argument for why this debut is better than "Low-End Theory" (that is almost convincing). This is a book about our relationship to music- how it changes us and changes with us over time. Easily one of the best of the entire 33 1/3 series.

This is the first book I've read in this series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author's personal viewpoint is very relatable to any hip hop fan (even the white, middleclass - which I am a part of). A friend at work (who does not listen to hip hop AT ALL and is just a fan of this series and music in general), recommended this to me, as he was also impressed. Thank you Shawn Taylor for sharing your experience with us, I will be checking out other books in the series!

Completely factually inaccurate. Don’t bother....

Was a gift...the recipient was thrilled

cette série alterne le formidable (bowie, led zep, costello, beatles) entre autre et le très mauvais (dusty, the smiths et celui -ci). le livre n'apporte aucune information fondamentale, hormis le fait que l'auteur est fan depuis toujours. l'auteur n'est pas musicien, cela se sent, ce n'est pas hélas un écrivain non plus!!!