On this day in 1996, A Tribe Called Quest released their fourth album Beats, Rhymes and Life. Though not as highly regarded as ATCQ’s other albums, particularly Midnight Marauders and The Low End Theory, this album had some impressive flows and lyrics, and it introduced the world to Consequence. The entire album was produced by The Ummah, which consisted of Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip and the late great J Dilla. This album also made some new moves for ATCQ. It went in the direction of the rest of the mid-late ’90s with hard-hitting beats and sweet female vocals. Faith Evans and Tammy Lucas were big reasons why the singles “Stressed Out” and “1nce Again” did so well on the charts.
