In 1996, A Tribe Called Quest released Beats, Rhymes and Life. According to World Cafe correspondent John Morrison, the album marked a darker, more introspective chapter for the group that was shaped by growing tensions between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg.

“By the time they got to the fourth record, they’re still young guys, but they’re also coming to grips with a lot of stuff,” Morrison says. “When you’re in your mid-20s, you’re figuring out a lot about life.”

But, while his relationship with Phife Dawg was becoming strained, Q-Tip was forging a new creative partnership with the visionary producer J Dilla. The two met at Lollapalooza a few years earlier, and Dilla joined the sessions for Beats, Rhymes and Life.

“Q-Tip saw the vision. He heard somebody who had grown up on A Tribe Called Quest’s music but was taking it in another direction,” Morrison says.

Today on the Cafe, we dig into 30 years of the hip hop group’s fourth studio album.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe‘s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.

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