A Tribe Called Quest’s new album is tear-jerking, essential protest music

When A Tribe Called Quest reunited to perform on The Tonight Show last fall, the group — Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi White, and Phife Dawg — couldn’t know what 2016 would bring. They were pioneers returned from hip-hop’s golden age, but not prophets. They couldn’t see Donald Trump taking the White House. They couldn’t see the rise of the alt-right as a significant corner of the electorate. And no one could foresee the personal tragedy the group would f