Award Tour Lyrics
[Chorus: Trugoy the Dove & Q-Tip]
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
New York, NJ, NC, VA (Right, true)
(Right, true)
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
Oaktown, LA, San Fran, St. John (Right, true)
(Right)
[Verse 1: Q-Tip & Ali Shaheed Muhammad]
People, give your ears, so I be sublime
It's enjoyable to know you and the concubines
Niggas, take off your coats, ladies, act like gems
Sit down Indian style as we recite these hymns
See, lyrically I'm Mario Andretti on the MOMO
Ludicrously speedy or infectious with the slow-mo
Heard me in the '80s, J.B.s on "The Promo"
In my never-endin' quest to get the paper on the caper
But now, let me take it to the Queens side
I'm takin' it to Brooklyn side
All the residential Questers who invade the air
Hold up a second, son, 'cause we almost there
You can be a Black man and lose all your soul
You can be white and groove, but don't crap the roll
See my shit is universal if you got knowledge of dolo
Or delf or self, see there's no one else
Who can drop it on the angle, acute at that
So who that, do that, do-do that, that, that (Come on)
Who that, do that, do-do that, that, that (Yeah, okay)
Do that, do that, do-do that, that, that
I'm buggin' out, but let me get back, 'cause I'm wettin' niggas
So run and tell the others, 'cause we are the brothers
I learned how to build mics in my workshop class
So give me this award and let's not make it the last
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
Chinatown, Spokane, London, Tokyo (Right, true)
(Right, true)
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
Houston, Delaware, DC, Dallas (Right, true)
(Right, true)
[Verse 2: Phife Dawg]
Back in '89, I simply slid into place
Buddy, buddy, buddy all up in your face
A lot of kids was bustin' rhymes, but they had no taste
Some said Quest was wack, but now is that the case?
I have a quest to have a mic in my hand
Without that, it's like Kryptonite and Superman
So, Shaheed, come in with the sugar cuts
Phife Dawg's my name, but on stage call me Dynomutt
When was the last time you heard the Phifer sloppy?
Lyrics anonymous, you'll never hear me copy
Top notch, baby, never comin' less
Sky's the limit, you gots to believe up in Quest
Sit back, relax, get up out the path
If not that, here's a dance floor, come move that ass
Non-believers, you can check the stats
I roll with Shaheed and the brother Abstract
Niggas know the time when Quest is in the jam
I never let a statue tell me how nice I am
Comin' with more hits than the Braves and the Yankees
Livin' mad phat like an oversized mampi
The wackest crews try to diss, it makes me laugh
When my track record's longer than a DC-20 aircraft
So next time that you think you want somethin' here
Make somethin' def or take that garbage to St. Elsewhere
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
SC, Maryland, New Orleans, Motown (Right, true)
(Right, true)
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
Chinatown, Spokane, London, Tokyo (Right, true)
(Right, true)
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
Houston, Delaware, DC, Dallas (Right, true)
(Right, true)
We on a world tour with Muhammad, my man (Right, true)
Goin' each and every place with the mic in their hand (Right, true)
New York, NJ, NC, VA (Right, true)
[Outro: Midnight Marauder Program (Laura Dunn)]
Seven times out of ten, we listen to our music at night
Thus spawned the title of this program
The word maraud means to loot
In this case, we maraud for ears
About
“Award Tour” was the lead single from Tribe’s third album, Midnight Marauders. Over a sample of Weldon Irvine’s “We Gettin' Down” and a chorus interpolating lines from Malcolm McLaren’s “Hobo Scratch,” Tip and Phife appear to be celebrating their worldwide success they were achieving with their critically acclaimed sophomore album, The Low End Theory. They also bring in fellow Native Tongues member Trugoy the Dove from De La Soul to perform the hook, and he appears in the music video mysteriously holding his right eye.
Q-Tip talked to Vibe magazine about the song’s production:
I love the drums on ‘Award Tour.’ And then there’s the sample I used from Jade’s ‘Don’t Walk Away.’ It’s all about that bassline. I just wanted to flip it, so I went through some more records and I got that Rhodes to counter the melody in the bassline. I wanted some drums that would smack that shit out the park.
The single topped Billboard’s Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart, while peaking at #7 on the Hot Rap Songs chart and #47 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it their most successful single.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Phife Dawg told XXL the choice for Midnight Marauders‘ lead single was between this and “Oh My God” – and how “Award Tour” won.
I remember being [at an Atlanta club], and I just started talking to somebody near the speaker, and they were spinning some other record, I can’t remember what it was. And then they pretty much segued—I think it was DJ Nabs—into “Award Tour,” and nobody had heard it yet. The pianos came in at the beginning, [sings the beat] and everybody was looking around, like, “What was that?” I even was like, “What the hell is that?” as many times as I had heard it in the studio while we recorded it, sequenced it, mixed it, mastered it, whatever. Once I heard it then, I went back home and I was like, “Tip, Ali—that’s the one.” They already came to me and said yeah, “Award Tour” is the one. So we all agreed and put it out there, and the rest, as they say, is history. It’s always a killer in the shows.
- 3.Award Tour
- 5.Scenario
- 6.Buggin’ Out
- 11.Hot Sex
- 12.Oh My God
- 14.Luck of Lucien
- 17.Find a Way
- 18.Sucka Nigga
- 19.Vivrant Thing
