Midnight Marauders

Midnight Marauders is the third studio album by Hip-Hop group A Tribe Called Quest. The album was released on November 9, 1993, by Jive Records and debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. On January 14, 1994, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), then became certified Platinum by the RIAA a year later in January 1995. The album cover artwork depicts a woman painted in Afrocentric colors, continuing the artistic theme found on The Low End Theory. The cover was issued in three different color schemes: red, black, and green, with black being the rarest. The book goes into detail as to which artists were on which particular album cover using a number scheme to easily identify each artist.

A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ) is an alternative/Jazz Rap Hip-Hop group from Queens, New York. Members of the group included Q-Tip (Kamaal Fareed, b. 1970), Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor, 1970-2016), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Ali Shaheed Muhammad, b. 1970), and Jarobi (Jarobi White, b. 1971).The group was popular in the 1990s era of conscious Hip-Hop. Considered the most intelligent, artistic Rap group, ATCQ rapped about numerous black issues, social consciousness, and the music industry. Signed to Jive by 1989, ATCQ released their debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990). While their debut album was successful, their second album The Low End Theory (1991) is considered one of the greatest Hip-Hop albums of all time. It was included on the Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the '90s and reached platinum status by 1995.