The 100 Greatest Native Tongues Songs
By Complex Magazine | Dec 15, 2010 | 1:23 pm | Permalink
#73. A Tribe Called Quest "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)"
Year: 1993
Produced By: Midnight Marauders
Album: A Tribe Called Quest
Label: Jive
Few rap groups were better at talking about nothing in particular than Tribe. It's all about the marriage of style and technique here. It's almost pointless to describe the song in detail because it manages to defy most of the songwriting and structural conventions of the time, yet it doesn't sound inaccessible, densely abstract or off-putting in any way. This is one of the few moments where Tip and Phife truly sound like an equally matched team. It's a fun and engaging song that could not have been made by any other group.
Rel December 15th, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Wait no God lives through, are you serious.
R. Poole December 15th, 2010 at 12:59 PM
ha-ha... remember PM Dawn thought they were dissin' them with this?
Eloh December 15th, 2010 at 01:14 PM
Ya'll should post a download link.It is Christmas you know!
joe December 15th, 2010 at 01:47 PM
my mental is excelling cause i dabble in the books
seymour glass December 15th, 2010 at 02:48 PM
Little low. Jimbrowski for president.
ox December 15th, 2010 at 06:50 PM
#63 used to be my joint...bumped it in the whip constantly...that is an example of a hip-hop song that is perfected, stripped down beats and rhymes....crazy
FTW December 15th, 2010 at 07:46 PM
I don't care who you are—if you were even remotely curious about the process of producing hip-hop music, your mind was blown the second you realized that Tribe had turned Minnie Ripperton's whistle-pitch vocals into an instrument ^^^^^ This.
Madlib December 15th, 2010 at 08:38 PM
Greatest Complex List EVER
Madlib December 15th, 2010 at 08:40 PM
the greatest complex list ever created.
Slick Savage December 16th, 2010 at 03:31 AM
Simply classic... But yo, WTF iz,"Subbups, subbups..."???