The Love Movement

The Love Movement is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on September 29, 1998, by Jive Records. A concept album, The Love Movement explores the lyrical theme of love. Musically, it is a continuation of the group's previous album, Beats, Rhymes and Life, featuring minimalist R&B and jazz-oriented production by The Ummah. The lead single, "Find a Way", charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and was followed by a second single, "Like It Like That". The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 1, 1998. The group announced its disbandment a month before the album's release.

The Love Movement
Studio album by
A Tribe Called Quest
ReleasedSeptember 29, 1998
Recorded1997−1998
StudioSony Music Studios, The Hit Factory, Battery Studios and River Sound in New York City
Genre
Length48:10
73:44 (with bonus tracks)
LabelJive
Producer
A Tribe Called Quest chronology
Beats, Rhymes and Life
(1996)		 The Love Movement
(1998)		 We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
(2016)
Singles from The Love Movement
  1. "Find a Way"
    Released: August 25, 1998
  2. "Like It Like That"
    Released: 1998

Background

The roots of The Love Movement trace back to 1997, when Q-Tip produced a beat intended for The Notorious B.I.G.'s album Life After Death.[1] The Notorious B.I.G. enjoyed the beat when it was played for him, however, Life After Death had already been completed and the beat was not used before his death later that year.[1] Eventually, the beat was used for the song "The Love" on The Love Movement.[1]

The album was originally slated for release in May 1998.[2] However, on February 7, 1998, a fire at Q-Tip's home recording studio destroyed his entire record collection and a computer containing many unreleased songs by the group, including collaborations with producer Jay Dee, delaying the album until September of that year.[3][4][5] A month before the album's release, the group announced that it was disbanding.[3]

Music and lyrics

The Love Movement is a continuation of the stripped-down R&B and jazz-infused sound that The Ummah created on Beats, Rhymes and Life.[6] The album contains an instrumental track, "4 Moms", which features a guitar solo by jazz guitarist Chalmers "Spanky" Alford. Lyrically, love is the album's predominant theme, while Q-Tip and Phife Dawg were noted for their "mature", "subtle" and "laid-back" rhymes.[6][7] The featured rappers were given praise for making the album sound "livelier", as it was criticized for being "a little monotonous" overall.[6][7] Thomas Golianopoulos of Spin hailed the single "Find a Way" as the group's "final glorious moment" before breaking up.[8]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[9]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[10]
NME7/10[11]
Rolling Stone[7]
The Source3.5/5[12]
Spin4/10[13]
The Village Voice[14]

The Love Movement debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on November 1, 1998, with shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States.

The album received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Josef Woodard of Entertainment Weekly described it as "a slamming, seductively textured, and tough display of virtuosic rhyming and tale spinning."[10] Dele Fadele of NME praised it for demonstrating "the continued survival of hip-hop as an artform", calling the album's songs "drug-free psychedelic experiences in which subsonic bass and weird-sounding beats play a large part."[11] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield believed that the "mature, accomplished niceness" of the album "proves that the Tribe still have the skills — they're just short on thrills."[7] In a negative review, Tim Haslett of Spin wrote that the spontaneity that made The Low End Theory "so much fun" had been "replaced by a shiny patina and a flabby George Benson-esque seriousness, so that the record feels like it was conceived and executed around a major-label conference table."[13]

In a retrospective piece, AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that "there are plenty of pleasures to be had from careful listening" of the album, and despite its love concept, he felt that "the overall effect is quite similar" to Beats, Rhymes and Life.[6] Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club stated, "While not as immediately accessible as Tribe's first three albums, it's still consistently solid enough to stand up to repeat listens."[15]

The Love Movement was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, presented at the 41st Grammy Awards in 1999.[16]

Track listing
  • All songs produced by The Ummah, except track 11 produced by The Ummah and Bay-Lloyd.
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Start It Up"Kamaal Fareed, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Malik Taylor, James Yancey, Ben Bernie, Kenneth Casey, Maceo Pinkard3:18
2."Find a Way"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Yancey, Bebel Gilberto, Towa Tei3:23
3."Da Booty"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Yancey3:20
4."Steppin' It Up" (featuring Busta Rhymes & Redman)Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Yancey, Trevor Smith Jr., Reggie Noble3:21
5."Like It Like That"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor2:46
6."Common Ground (Get It Goin' On)"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor2:49
7."4 Moms" (featuring Spanky)Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Yancey1:49
8."His Name Is Mutty Ranks"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Yancey1:56
9."Give Me" (featuring Noreaga)Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Victor Santiago Jr., Dallas Austin, Michael Bivins, Shawn Stockman, Nathan Morris, Sam Jones3:52
10."Pad & Pen" (featuring D-Life)Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Ronnie Wilson, Oliver Scott3:23
11."Busta's Lament"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Yancey2:38
12."Hot 4 U"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Leon Sylvers III, Joseph Sylvers3:15
13."Against the World"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Yancey, James Smith, Dwayne Simon, Brian Latture3:58
14."The Love"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Douglas Davis, Richard Walters4:02
15."Rock Rock Y'all" (featuring Punchline, Jane Doe, Wordsworth & Mos Def)Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Rashaan Truell, Latania Morris, Vinson Johnson, Dante Smith, Charles Wright, James Gadson4:17
Total length:48:10
Limited edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
16."Scenario (Remix)" (featuring Kid Hood & Leaders of the New School)Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Troy Hall, Bryan Higgins, James Jackson, Sheldon Scott, Smith Jr.5:17
17."Money Maker"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor4:22
18."Hot Sex"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor2:45
19."Oh My God (Remix)"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor4:01
20."Jazz (We've Got) (Re-Recording Radio)"Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor4:18
21."One Two Shit" (featuring Busta Rhymes)Fareed, Muhammad, Taylor, Smith Jr.4:31
Total length:73:44

Notes

  • Tracks 1–4, 7, 8, 11, and 13 credited as "initiated by JD of The Ummah".[17]

Samples

Personnel

Credits are adapted from AllMusic.[18]

Charts and certifications
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References
  1. The Love Movement--A Tribe Called Quest (1998) Vibe. Accessed on February 26, 2018.
  2. News Flash: Tribe's Q-Tip Loses LPs, Studio In Fire MTV. Accessed on February 26, 2018.
  3. Cowie, Del F. (February 2008). "A Tribe Called Quest - Verses from the Abstract". Exclaim!. Accessed on February 26, 2018.
  4. Q-Tip Red Bull Music Academy. Accessed on February 26, 2018.
  5. Tribe's Q-Tip Loses Unreleased Songs In Fire MTV. Accessed on February 26, 2016.
  6. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Love Movement – A Tribe Called Quest". AllMusic. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  7. Sheffield, Rob (July 28, 1998). "The Love Movement". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  8. Golianopoulos, Thomas (August 2008). "Discography: Q-Tip". Spin. 24 (8): 92. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  9. Larkin, Colin (2011). "A Tribe Called Quest". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  10. Woodward, Josef (October 9, 1998). "The Love Movement". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  11. Fadele, Dele (October 1, 1998). "A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement". NME. London. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  12. "A Tribe Called Quest: The Love Movement". The Source (109): 213. October 1998.
  13. Haslett, Tim (September 1998). "A Tribe Called Quest: The Love Movement". Spin. 14 (9): 195. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  14. Christgau, Robert (November 3, 1998). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  15. Rabin, Nathan (March 29, 2002). "A Tribe Called Quest: The Love Movement". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  16. Artist - A Tribe Called Quest Grammy.com. Accessed on February 26, 2018.
  17. A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement Discogs. Accessed on January 16, 2017.
  18. The Love Movement – Credits. AllMusic. Accessed on February 26, 2018.
  19. "A Tribe Called Quest Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  20. "Lescharts.com – A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  21. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  22. "Swedishcharts.com – A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  23. "A Tribe Called Quest | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  24. "A Tribe Called Quest Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  25. "A Tribe Called Quest Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  26. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1998". Billboard. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  27. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 1998". Billboard. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  28. "Canadian album certifications – A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement". Music Canada.
  29. "American album certifications – A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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