The Low End Theory is ATCQ's jazzy sophomore album, and the VMP Essentials Record of the Month for May 2022. However, on February 19, 1992, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States. However, he left the group during the sessions to study culinary art and his verses did not make the final cut. Similarly, "Buggin' Out" was the first song in which he layered two different drum breaks at once, which was uncommon at the time.

Moore is VMP’s Hip-Hop Director and a music journalist who’s covered jazz, soul and hip-hop at The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The Nation, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Pitchfork and elsewhere. Just to complete the picture, each of the first three albums, including Low End Theory, were released on vinyl at the time of their release in Europe. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 154 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time; in a revised 2012 list, it was ranked at number 153, and in 2020, it moved up to number 43.He named "Check the Rhime" and "Buggin' Out" as highlights, while giving the album a three-star honorable mention, indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure. It was awarded a perfect five mic rating in The Source, with reviewer Reef lauding their "progressive sound" and "streetwise edge", adding that "there's no sophomore jinx to be found here—only real hip-hop. The Low End Theory is regarded for its socially conscious lyrics, which include subjects such as relationships, date rape, the hip-hop industry and consumerism.

Recording sessions for the album were held mostly at Battery Studios in New York City, from 1990 to 1991.The Low End Theory is an unqualified success, the perfect marriage of intelligent, flowing raps to nuanced, groove-centred productions. With the album, the group is credited for showcasing how hip-hop was made before commercial success influenced many rappers' creativity, and for challenging the "macho posturing" of hardcore and gangsta rap. After switching managers, the group demanded more advances from Jive, who eventually extended their recording contract for one more album. The album cover is regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic in hip-hop history; on a top 50 list by Complex, it was ranked number one. For anyone not familiar, these albums along with their debut are three of the best hip hop albums from '89 - '93 - pretty much as good as it gets.

From Check The Rhime to the posse cut Scenario, the trio of Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad deliver jazzy hip-hop beats and rhymes like butter.Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed were at the leading edge of a new wave where people started making elaborate musical constructions out of samples from different places that would not, and in many ways, could not, have been played by regular players. de la Soul are remembered as the premier Native Tongues posse, those rappers who got low-key, self-consciously thoughtful, and jazzy in the face of gangsta's hardcore threats. Two posse cuts were recorded: the third single "Scenario", featuring Leaders of the New School, and "Show Business", featuring Lord Jamar and Sadat X of Brand Nubian and Diamond D of D.

The Low End Theory took Tribe to that fabled "next level" hip hop acts always bang on about by performing the trick every authenticity-obsessed artist most dearly wants to execute. From 2016 to 2018, he worked as a senior editor at Bandcamp Daily, where he gave an editorial voice to rising indie musicians. But you don’t arrive at the perfect nocturnal LP without first releasing a focused work like 'The Low End Theory,' which winnowed the colorful expanse of 'People’s Instinctive Travels' into a seamless listen. The laid back style of Q-Tip and Phife Dawg over the jazz sampleology of Ali Shaheed Muhammad, along with the daisy age raps of De La Soul, almost single-handedly defined the alternative rap scene, where intelligence and musical nouse replaced guns, hos and bragging. Amidst the self-deprecation there was some serious stuff as well with issues of misogyny ('The Infamous Date Rape' and 'Butter') and rap's descent into brutalism ('Rap Promoter', 'Show Business') being addressed.The 1993 record features "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)", "Sucka”, “Award Tour” and “Electric Relaxation”. The majority of the recording sessions took place at Battery Studios in Manhattan, from 1990 to 1991, where the songs were recorded on a Neve 8068 mixing console that had been used by John Lennon. Like its predecessor it combined humour with insight to show the world that 'rap' needn't be equated with the worst aspects of the American dream. Change country: -Select- Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Botswana British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Islands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Fiji Finland France Gabon Republic Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia Moldova Monaco Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norway Oman Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of Croatia Republic of the Congo Romania Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts-Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda United Kingdom United States Uruguay Vanuatu Vatican City State Vietnam Virgin Islands (U.