A Tribe Called Quest performed “The Space Program” and "We The People" on this week’s “SNL.” The songs are from the group’s new album We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service. See the videos below of A Tribe Called Quest’s performance of “The Space Program” and "We The People" on “Saturday Night Live.”
This marks A Tribe Called Quest’s debut as the musical guest on “SNL.” And it’s the first time, “We The People” and “The Space Program” has been performed on TV. When the group was in its heyday in the 1990s, it was rare to have a hip hop act as the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live.” Now, 18 years after releasing their last album, the group has reunited for its sixth and final record.
A Tribe Called Quest, originally made up of members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White, released its first album People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm in 1990. That was followed by The Low End Theory in 1991, Midnight Marauders in 1993, Beat, Rhymes and Life in 1996, and the group’s last album, The Love Movement in 1998. The group then split up, and starting in 2004 A Tribe Called Quest reunited over the years for a number of concerts and festivals, and even a TV performance almost exactly a year ago on the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
A Tribe Called Quest has yet to release any music videos, but on the same day the album dropped, they posted a lyric video for “We The People,” and it touches on themes from Tuesday’s presidential election, such as Mexicans, Muslims and such other hot topics as race and gender relations. The song’s refrain, sung and obviously repudiated by Q-Tip, includes the lyrics, “All you Mexicans, you must go,” and “Muslims and gays, boy, we hate your ways.” After naming “Black folks” and “poor folks,” there’s a line, “So all you bad folks, you must go.”
Watch the hip hop group perform “The Space Program” and "We The People" below.
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