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Mar 29, 2024 - Fri
Bolton United States
Wind 2 m/s, NW
Pressure 756.81 mmHg
37°F
overcast clouds
Humidity 80%
Clouds 100%
fri03/29 sat03/30 sun03/31 mon04/01 tue04/02
45/37°F
44/34°F
47/36°F
50/43°F
42/36°F

A Tribe Called Quest Member to Release First Solo Album on Glens Falls’ Sub-Bombin Records

Glens Falls-based Sub-Bombin Records has announced the release of hip-hop legend Jarobi’s first solo album in the first half of 2014.

Hip-hop heads know Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White are the John, Paul, George, and Ringo of the genre. Like rock and roll in the fifties, hip-hop in the eighties was a burgeoning scene of kids with eardrums attuned to rhythms of the street. Like the mop-tops from Liverpool, four childhood friends from Queens would channel a breadth of cultures and musical styles to redefine and transcend the form as A Tribe Called Quest.

Jarobi in the recording studio

“They completely mastered the form and culture of what hip-hop was supposed to be,” said Atlanta emcee Ludacris in the 2011 documentary, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.

“Nothing was touching Tribe. Nothing,” said mega-producer Pharrell Williams in the Tribe documentary.

Although their story is the stuff of hip-hop lore, “mystic man” Jarobi has long eluded the public eye. As Tribe recorded their Sgt. Pepper’s, hip-hop’s abstract masterpiece Low End Theory in 1991, Jarobi left the group to attend culinary school and has come and gone ever since.

In 2006, Jarobi rejoined the group and has since shared stages worldwide with Tip, Phife, and Ali Shaheed as a full “one fourth” member of Tribe.

“I’ve been saying no to too many opportunities. Next thing that pops up, I’m saying yes to,” Jarobi told Okayplayer when asked how his project, EvitaN, came about with Dres from Black Sheep. The group released its first album, Speed of Life, in October 2012.

Tribe performing at a reunion show in the early 2000's

In 2012, Jarobi attended a Sub-Bombin Records release show for Mr. Complex’s Swiss Chocolate Cake in New York City and now the hip-hop legend is working on an album for the Glens Falls-based record label.

Jarobi’s highly anticipated first solo album will feature production from Ali Shaheed Muhammad, the DJ/producer of A Tribe Called Quest.

Sub-Bombin Records plans to release Jarobi’s album sometime in early 2014 on vinyl and digital formats.

The album promises to showcase the spirit of the classic era of hip-hop, closer to the source: the street.

“Jarobi is the spirit of A Tribe Called Quest,” said Q-Tip, in the Beats, Rhymes & Life documentary.

The record label continues to build on its successes with local-turned-national acts such as Phantogram, as well as international-turned-independent legends like Gary Wilson.