What Hiatus? A Tribe Called Quest's New Album Goes No. 1 On Billboard 200
A Tribe Called Quest hadn't released a new album in nearly 20 years before this month, but the group still had to represent one time before bowing out.
The group's new and final album We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 135,000 equivalent album unit sales. Out of that total, 112,000 were traditional sales. Along with the album being available in digital outlets, physical copies were sold in stores, online and at their pop-up shop in New York City.
Last time A Tribe Called Quest had a no. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, it was more than 20 years ago - for their album Beats, Rhymes and Life, which was released in August 1996. Billboard reports that before this, Jeezy had the longest wait between no. 1 albums for hip-hop artists, with eight years and two months between The Recession in September 2008 and Trap Or Die 3 from this month.
Since the album released on Nov. 11, fans have gotten plenty from the beloved Queens rap group. A pop-up shop in New York City sold out of clothing and physical copies over three days, and the group performed two songs on Saturday Night Live last weekend in an episode hosted by Dave Chappelle. And on Saturday, Nov. 19, a block was named after group member Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor, who died in March 2016 from complications from diabetes.
Before We Got It From Here..., A Tribe Called Quest's latest album was 1998's The Love Movement. Despite multiple reunions over the years, it seemed that the group would never record another album again. But after performing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 13 2015, the same night of terrorist attacks in Paris, they began working on a new album in secrecy. Member Q-Tip has said the new album is their official swan song.
RELATED: Okayplayer's Secret History Behind A Tribe Called Quest's Final Album
