The 20th Anniversary of A Tribe Called Quests Midnight Marauders was on November 9th. While this classic is, let’s say, is unfuckable with and has stood on its own legs for the past two decades, UK producer and DJ Jim Sharp has put a twist on it. Getting out his trusty MPC and a turntable, he took unreleased vocals and rebuilt tracks from this record from the original samples. He tried to get into the same mind set Q-Tip did at the time, built each track from the ground up, while also paying homage to some of his favorite producers (Shadow, Premier, Large Professor) in the process. He even put some legends of the game such as Nas, Bz Markie and Biggie as guest vocalists next to the originals on some tracks. If you ever wondered what it might sound like, one of our most favorite (and underrated) producers gives you an insight on what could have been. Hip Hop purists may get their panties all in a bunch, but as someone who holds this record in the highest regard, I think it’s a fresh take on the classic. Sharp’s production skills are on point, not just because he can recreate the tracks as they were made originally, but the different angle he put on this tribute as a whole. Here’s what he had to say about this labor of love in his own words:

“On November 9th 1993 A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Midnight Marauders’ dropped. ATCQ was (and still is) my favourite rap group and listening to Marauders now, it seems incredible how it’s endured the test of time. With the advancement of technology it has been possible to attain previously unreleased vocals and with this in mind I started to rebuild tracks from Marauders from their original samples. (it’s important to note that technology has only moved so far and the majority of vocals were impossible to get) I took a lot of time to imagine how Q-tip would have captured the samples, probably using a turntable and an MPC. Consciously not using pitch correct, sampling one side of the audio and bouncing it to stereo and continually trying to get the right filter, echo, pitch and sound from the original sample. I also re-imagined big sections of tracks paying homage to some of my favourite producers such as Premier, DJ Shadow, 9th Wonder and Large Professor. I thought about what it would have been like to have some legends of the game such as Biggie, Nas and Biz Markie dropping guest verses next to Tip and Phife. I completely understand how dear Tribe fans hold Marauders and it was important to me that it had a fresh take but stayed true to the original ethos. This was a labour of love and I hope people dig it for what it is.”
– Jim Sharp 2013

Midnight Marauders Revisited EP Track List

1. Marauders Revisited Tour Guide
2. Award Tour (Jim Sharp Revisit)
3. Midnight (Jim Sharp Re-Imagine)
4. Interlude OK to be NOT OK
5. We Can Get Down (Jim Sharp’s Boom Bap Mix)
6. Electric Relaxation (Jim Sharp Revisit)
7. Keep It Rollin (Jim Sharp’s Queens Mix feat. Nas & Extra P)
8. The Chase (Jim Sharp’s Part 3 feat. Biz Markie)
9. Hot Sex (Jim Sharp Revisit feat. Biggie Smalls)

Download the project here and you be the judge.

Keep Diggin’!