Yo. What's up everyone. It's been awhile since I've posted, but I've definitely been checking in from time to time. Makes sense that things would be quiet around here but so glad the forum is still going. And with Thes' new mix tape dropping who knows what else could happen in the future. I know things have been tough the last couple years, but we'll keep pushing it along and be there at the end. For me, things couldn't be better actually. Things were really tough for me, in general, around the time Pmuny died. But since then it's gotten much better, and my wife and I now have 2 amazing sons and are constantly busy with them but couldn't be happier. Like when you cut that rose/and another one grows.
The reason I didn't post a review on here earlier (i.e. when the album came out) was because I honestly didn't like it very much and didn't want to be negative about it. But with time passing and listening to it more, and especially now given Double K's death, thinking about how difficult this album must have been for both of them to make is beyond comprehension. At the time, their retirement was presented as them settling down and not wanting to got through the rigors of an older touring band (Thes putting it more on himself). But, and I'm speculating here, it seems like it was actually more because of Double K's declining health. I remember seeing them in Berkeley in 2018(?) for their 2nd to last show ever in the Bay Area and Double K looked super thin. I had assumed that was a good thing, maybe not.
Anyway, I was originally not a big fan of Sincerely. While I thought it had a few great songs (Effects of Climate Change, We Get Around, Family Ties), overall I wasn't impressed. I wanted more for a final album. (And then Thes put out the Sincerely EP and I liked those 4 songs better than a lot of the songs on the actual album). But after listening to it more, and with the passing of KK, I have a new perspective.
What helped was reading the incredible book Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib. I'd highly recommend that to everyone here. In the book, he talks about Phife's solo album Ventilation (one I always liked) and how it was viewed as a failure at the time it came out. I didn't start liking Tribe until well after they initially broke up so I didn't get to see any of this in real time. But apparently a lot of people didn't like it, and maybe for some of the same reasons I didn't initially like Sincerely, The P. Abdurraqib went on to compare the public's reactions to Phife as if he were Bill Buckner letting the ball roll through his legs to lose the World Series (though, of course, that by itself was not why the Red Sox lost). But that in reality, the Ventilation LP was more like Willis Reed coming into the 1970 NBA Finals for the Knicks while on his last leg, barely able to walk, and hounding Wilt Chamberlin defensively on the way to a Knicks victory. I think that's a much better analogy for Sincerely, The P as well. Putting everything they had into a last album, an album made more for the fans than anything else, an album full of sincere heartfelt emotions, and a fitting end to a championship run. It's still not my favorite album of theirs, but I appreciate them so much for making it. Their history wouldn't be complete without it.
