TCQ was a rap crew from Queens consisting of: Q-Tip (MC, producer, leader), Phife Dawg (MC), Ali Shaheed Muhammed (DJ, producer), and Jarobi (MC).
They along with the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul were the core of the Native Tongues posse, which also included affiliated acts such as Black Sheep and Queen Latifah. Referred to as a collective or sometimes a movement, Native Tongues had everything to do with what became most people's idea of “alternative” or “conscious” rap.
If you like this, I might make you a Native Tongues mix.
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
1990
Push It Along
Bonita Applebum
Can I Kick It?
The Low End Theory
1991
Excursions
Buggin' out
Verses From The Abstract (Bass: Ron Carter)
Check the Rhime
What?
Scenario (one of Busta Rhymes' first appearances on wax!)
Midnight Marauders
1993
Steve Biko (Stir It Up)
Award Tour
Oh My God
Beats, Rhymes and Life
1996
Skipped it. It contains nothing essential.
The Love Movement
1998
Find A Way
The Love Movement's production was credited only to The Ummah, a collective consisting of Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jay Dee AKA J. Dilla, and Raphael Saadiq.
Jay Dee was a producer from Detriot who changed the game. Known for idiosyncratic beats that don't quite line up, he is hugely influential in rap, R&B, and jazz. He worked with Common, the Roots, the Pharcyde, Slum Village, and many more. His partnership with Q-Tip was a boon to his career, but ultimately he was unhappy with this and other records being released without his name. He died of a rare blood disease in 2006. The biography _Dilla Time_ by Dan Charnas is highly recommended.
“We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service”
2016
The Space Program
We The People....
Whateva Will Be
Most of the live instruments are played by Q-Tip
Differences between Q-Tip and Phife kept the group broken up from 98 to 2013. Phife died in 2016 from complications due to diabetes before the release of their final album.