Low End Theory Trivia: A short thread

Phife was not too serious about Tribe on their debut album and was more interested in hanging out with friends & being in the streets. He only appeared on four tracks & did not tour much. Tip & Phife ran into each other on the train where Tip convinced him to take a bigger role.

Recording sessions for the Low End Theory started less than three months after their debut, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, dropped. Phife stated that Tip did not want to lose the momentum from their debut.

After Phife learned that he had diabetes during the recording of the album he nearly left the group to find a regular job. Q-Tip talked him out of it. 

Jarobi pursued a culinary career, but still hung out. He returned on wax and rapped on 7 tracks from We Got It From Here...

Pleased with their debut, but upset with sales & being marketed almost exactly like De La Soul, they fired Kool DJ Red Alert as their manager & the lawyers he hired for the group. This caused a rift between Tribe and the Native Tongues crew.

Kid Hood, a friend of Q-Tip, recorded a verse for the Scenario in one take, but was murdered two days later. Q-Tip wrote a dedication to his friend that was included in vinyl copies of the Scenario single.

The title, Low End Theory, is a double entendre referring to both the status of black men in society and the gritty, deep bass frequencies in Tribe's music.

Pictured: Rodney King beating, March 1991

Phife's line on Jazz "Strictly hardcore tracks, not a new jack swing" led Wreckx-n-Effect to publicly confronting Q-Tip. It's believed that Q-Tip received a black eye and other facial injuries that forced him to wear a mask for the Hot S*x music video.

The bass heavy production led by Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Q-Tip would blow out multiple speakers inside Battery Studios on a weekly basis. Studio engineer Bob Power joked that Ali & Tip knew they had the right sample & amount of bass when they blew out a set of speakers.

Due to limited technology in 1991, engineer Bob Power used time intensive, meticulous mixing techniques to remove cracking & noises from sampled records. The final product was still rugged and Jazz, but was crisp & clear.

Tribe said Straight Outta Compton's sample heavy production, but adding a West Coast twist inspired them to fuse Jazz and Hip Hop and put their own twist. Dr. Dre said LET influenced him to perfect the mixing & mastering techniques that he's used the last 30 years.

The original remix of Scenario featured members of the Native Tongues Crew, including members of De La Soul, Black Sheep, and Jarobi. That version of the remix remains unreleased.