The following is a Designated Cheerleader piece by @jays_ear for the Best Album of 1991 tournament. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you follow the link to vote in the tournament. Thanks!

The Low End Theory is one of those albums where the best form of cheerleading would be to simply transcribe the rhymes from the album. Since you can (and should!) find those on Genius anyway, here’s my comparatively feeble attempt.

Q-Tip starts off the album with a manifesto of sorts. Over a solitary, driving bass line—sampled from Art Blakey—Q-Tip starts by recalling the past: his own past, his family’s past, the past of Black American music. The point of starting with the past—with this past—is to express the profound conviction that the present, esp. the present of hip hop, is grounded in the past of Black American music. And to emphasize Tribe’s self-conscious endeavor to nurture and further this cultural heritage. Or as Q-Tip more pithily says, “things go in circles”.

Phife Dawg takes up the next track, "Buggin’ Out." And it’s a different scene, a little less abstract if you will. Phife is funnier, he cares about the Knicks more, he tends to bug out more. But what Phife brings are storytelling skills that complement Q-Tip’s reflections. "Butter" functions as a good showcase for Phife Dawg’s storytelling. And sure, he’s going to rhyme about girls, chasing girls in high school, being chased by girls later, etc. But Phife’s ability to convey entire vignettes within the space of a few lines is exceptional.

Part of what makes Tribe work so well is the contrast between Q-Tip (the “Abstract”) with his smooth tenor and philosophical musings and Phife’s more grounded presence, both literally and figuratively. Literally in the sense that he has a deeper voice and a more staccato flow; figuratively because of his sense of humor and what he rhymes about.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad provides the beats, which are relatively simple but effective. The bass lines are impeccable and Muhammad has an excellent ear for the occasional flourish (as e.g. the high hats in "Buggin’ Out"). Overall, the sound is smooth, deeply jazz influenced, and produced so as to keep the focus on the rhymes. A shoutout though to "Show Business," which has a rocking disco-funk beat impossible not to move to — and at the other end, the Green Dolphin Street horn sample in "Jazz (We’ve Got)", mournful with just tiniest hint of sinister.

Also, uh, this album has "Scenario." This album is so good, it’s so easy to get lost in the jazzy beats, in Q-Tip’s complex constructions and Phife Dawg’s stories, that half the time I forget it ends with one of the absolute fucking bangers in the history of hip hop. So stop reading this now and go listen to The Low End Theory. Bye.

– @jays_ear