The Native Tongue collective started in the late 80’s and gained momentum entering into the early 90’s. However, for whatever reason, there seemed to be a lull in the collective’s camaraderie by the mid 90’s. This led Pos of De La Soul to state “… the native tongues has officially been reinstated.” Were they defunct? Did they have beef? I didn’t care. I was just glad to hear they were reinstated!
I loved and still love the Native Tongues Collective. The combination of Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, and more were so inspiring to me. The music they made in the early 90’s was life changing. After hearing “3 Ft High & Rising” I literally wanted to become a rapper. I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life involved in Hip-hop in one way or another. The music was just that captivating. It was an experience and I wanted more!
The Hip-hop crew or collective is a staple of Hip-hop and it is alive and well today. We have Kendrick Lamar and T.D.E. Joey Badass and New Era. J. Cole and Dreamworld. Tyler the Creator and Odd Future. We even have crews from the 90’s still dope and relevant in D.I.T.C. and the Boot Camp Click. Dres the Black Sheep is getting ready to release a new album over beats from Jay Dilla. Perhaps a few Native Tongue cousins will pop up on that. We can hope.
And we can also hope for a Native Tongues album. I’ve been hoping
for this collective to join forces for an entire album since the early 90’s. Maybe it will still happen.
Here’s to all the dope collectives out there! Thank you for carrying on the tradition and making dope Hip-hop.
So, who is your favorite Hip-hop collective?
Peace,
MC Till
