A Tribe Called Quest’s second album The Low End Theory is a straight-up classic, no doubt about it.

From the smacking Abstract intro “Excursions” to the timeline posse cut “Scenario” (which features one of the greatest verses of all time – shout out to Busta Rhymes), Tribe’s sophomore project is incredible front-to-back.

There was just a little controversy about the album’s second single, “Jazz (We’ve Got)” – legendary producer Pete Rock claims he produced the original beat and after Q-Tip heard it, recreated the production for the song.

Pete Rock talked about in-depth in an interview with Complex:

Q-Tip came over one day and heard the beat playing and liked it. And I had the records sitting around because I had just made it, so the records were there and he saw what I used. I guess he liked it and went back and tried to re-create it and make it sound just like the way I did it. I had a few more elements in it. I had the same drums and the sample, and he actually did the beat the same way I did it. And he shouted me out [at the end of the song]. At first I was a little upset when I didn’t get the credit when I looked at the album [liner notes], but I’m way over that by now. That was so long ago. I’m on to bigger and better things. I hate talking about old, wack situations that don’t mean nothing no more. But definitely, that was a classic.

Pete Rock Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records | Complex

However, according to Q-Tip, that’s not exactly what went down. He explained in an interview with Moovmnt:

We were at his crib in Mount Vernon and we were all supposed to rhyme over this beat, me, him and Large Professor. He was rockin’ it and I was just like ‘Are we gonna do it?!’ and he was like ‘I don’t know. I don’t know’. So I asked him again ‘Yo what’s up with that beat that shit is hot, yo what’s those records I wanna hook that beat up!’ And he was like ‘Aight fuck it’. I was like ‘I’m gonna do that shit and then we can exchange, I’ll give you some shit’. And he was like ‘Alright, cool’. That was the story, that’s why on it (“We Got The Jazz”) I said ‘Pete Rock for the beat ya don’t stop’. You know, because it was some exchange shit.

Exclusive: Q-Tip Interview – MOOVMNT.com
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