Today (Nov. 9) marks a very special day for hip hop culture, as it marks the 30th anniversary of the release of two of the greatest albums in history: A Tribe Called Quest‘s Midnight Marauders and the Wu-Tang Clan‘s Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers. These works are regularly cited as some of the most influential rap albums of all time, and in the Wu’s case their debut album has been archived in the Library of Congress, alongside Nas’ Illmatic, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, and Jay-Z’s The Blueprint.
Both Q-Tip and The RZA sat down with Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds for a special episode of their Juan Ep Is Life Podcast to talk about their respective releases.
“I can empathize with artists who were a part of a unit and one of them is gone… the music is the saving grace because you get to relive that moment when you’re performing it posthumously,” Tip said (Phife Dawg in Tribe’s case, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard in the Wu’s). “You get to relive it. It becomes animated again. Then, the bittersweet part is that they’re not there in the physical sense… You know, music- that’s why we’re all so drawn into it. The aspect is that we can’t really touch it. It’s not tangible. Music moves people but the minute you turn it off, it’s not there but it stays with you. It’s a very ethereal relationship we have with music as music lovers and music practitioners. So when you have things like milestones, they’re there to remind you of the grace you’ve been afforded, the blessings that have been placed upon you, and the value of if you feel like you’re not in a great position, that you have an anniversary, birthday, or something like that to know you’re still here and that you can do better.”
Just as a heads up: Snoop Dogg’s debut album, Doggystyle, also hits the 30-year mark on November 23rd…
