Low End Theories With a Tribe Called Quest

As one of the founding members of hip-hop pioneers A Tribe Called Quest, Ali Shaheed Muhammad is known for blazing trails.

Not only was he a key figure on iconic Tribe albums like The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders, but he has also produced everyone from D’Angelo to John Legend to the late-1990s supergroup Lucy Pearl.

Recently, Muhammad linked up with super-producer Adrian Younge to score the latest streaming series from Marvel’s landmark deal with Netflix, Luke Cage. The hip-hop-influenced soundtrack immediately earned widespread critical acclaim, adding to the buzz of the blockbuster program.

Oh yeah, and you might have heard that Tribe recently made the surprise announcement that they are dropping a new—and final—album on November 11.

Fender recently caught up with Muhammad to talk about his musical background and why using live instrumentation has taken his creativity to new levels.

"I got into using live instruments when I started DJing. I felt restricted in the confines of sampling, so that began my journey into instrumentation. It’s one thing to take a loop and make a collage out of it and give it a new identity. But I wanted to learn why I liked the music I was sampling. Having the fundamental understanding of what those musicians were doing and doing it myself."

"For me, the ultimate 'ah-ha' moment was, I was in Trinidad working on Tony! Toni! Toné!'s Sons of Soul* album. I programmed this beat, and the guys, instantly without discussing it--there was no jam session, nothing like that--Raphael (Saadiq)called everyone down and said 'Follow me.' He had his bass and everyone else just jumped in. I was watching it and was blown away. I needed to figure out how to get to that point."

"My first bass was a (Fender P Bass](http://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-basses/precision-bass/american-elite-precision-bass/0196900700.html) that I still use. [Grammy Award-winning producer)Bob Power showed me how to hold it, and he tried to show me how to properly use it. I actually ignored (him) I’m left-handed, as well. Any time you pick up an instrument for the first time, it’s strange. It’s foreign. My fingers were hurting, I just played all the music that I love, note by note and figured out how to use the instrument."

"I’ve had my bass 23 years. Some people have had drum machines for that long, strictly in hip-hop. I don’t think many people can say they have an instrument for that long. That bass has been my friend. The only other thing that has been with me longer is my record collection."

"(Jazz guitar great)Wes Montgomery started playing guitar at 20, and he is almost unmatched in terms of tone of our time. When I heard that, it made me feel at 22 that I stood a chance."

"I should have been playing at 12 or 13, but I was (learning)at 23 and 24. For people who have never been in the studio, I would have to show them how instrumentation can make the sound bigger. The biggest challenge was having confidence to do that, because I wasn’t taking any classes and didn’t have people tell me what to do. It was just playing the music I listened to."

"Hip hop gave the black and urban youth a way to make music without buying an instrument. But at the same time, it shows that youth the power of instrumentation and instruments. We want black and urban youth to want to recreate that music using instruments. Now, computers are doing it in their own way. Anybody can play an instrument, but not anybody can learn how to compose and create a song."

"Bass and cello are my favorite instruments. The two are very similar, but the frequency is obviously much lower in the bass. There’s something in that frequency, when you bow, that just brings out a different emotion in the sound. Even though I play electric bass, because I’m a punk and have not stood up to play that big-bodied bass (laughs), I still appreciate it when it’s bowed. Also, my love affair with hip-hop comes from the low-end frequencies; the kick. You marry that with the bass, and that’s the melody that moves. It just resonates with my spirit."

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