This may not be their best, but it's still an excellent album. The wordplay between Phife, and Q-Tip was still almost telepathic, and while the feel of easiness was gone, song to song was not a difficult listen. There was also extremely pure reminders of why Quest was so loved in the first place (ie "The Jam", and "1nce Again") Those songs rank among the best of anything in their catalog. Songs like: "Phony Rappers"(an excellent battle rap) "Get A Hold", "Motivators", "What Really Goes On, and "Word Play" represent some of the best work in their post zenith period. This album also showcases some of the best work of The Ummah production unit, which consisted of Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jay-Dee.

The album closes with "Stressed Out" a surprising collaboration with Faith Evans that doesn't elate or disappoint (the album version would later be outdone by an excellent maxi featuring remixes by Bjork, and so on). What's so surprising, is that so many artists used this album as a semi-blueprint, slightly tweaking it's formulas, and applying them to their sound. "Beats, Rhymes, and Life" almost had the same impact on late 90's hip hop as "The Low End Theory" had on early 90's hip hop, which really says something about this record. The truth is, this record should probably have been released 3 years later minus a song or two. This record's successor "The Love Movement" was a direct reaction to the reception this record was given. The ironic thing is, it's predecessor holds up better 10 years out.

halfway between Midnight and Love Movement
Q-Tip was best in the middle of the Tribe's career. Before Midnight Marauders and after this album, his lyrical muscles were just too weak for his image as the Abstract Poetic. This album attempts to supersede the impossibly high level of balanced perfection that Midnight Marauders presented to the world. They add mini tracks (Crew, Separate/Together) and try to attack the mainstream directly (many conscious rappers don't know that conscious rap only works when it doesn't keep talking about how conscious it is). They try to embrace the party world (Jam, the Hop) and the cerebral world (Mind Power) and flirt with less conventional song forms (Word Play). This is all well and good, except for Consequence (where the hell did he come from?) and Stressed Out, which can be omitted from the album with no trouble at all.
The production on this album strikes an excellent balance, and the overall pace of the album is even more deliberately measured than that of Midnight, which was almost a fluke of a perfect album. There are discordant keyboards on joints like Phony Rappers and Separate/Together, then the tight jams of the horribly underrated Get a Hold and the hint of what is yet to come, Keeping it Moving. Most of the songs retain a crucial jazz element of the earlier work combined with a hint of the futuristic sterility of the Love Movement, but this middle ground, combined with the unhurried brilliance of the lyrical work, makes it my favorite tribe album.
Instead of being a great rap album like the one before it, Beats Rhymes and Life is a great Tribe album. It takes time to understand it but it fits perfectly in its place in the Tribe canon and in the mid 90s, when hip hop was just about to start killing itself.

The end of an era
This album was the beginning of the end for A Tribe. They'd produced some of the genre's greatest albums in the early 90s.

By the time this came out, hip hop was changing a bit. You'll notice that the jazz influence was really non-existent on this one. This has a lot more upbeat, party beats to it; which isn't to say that's bad, but to say that it doesn't seem like the Tribe I grew up on.

Still, Phife and Qtip's lyrics were still solid. One major complaint is the new guy, Consequence, who really doesn't seem to fit in. It was a bad idea; I'm not sure what they were thinking.

Still, this is a decent Tribe release. It's far from their best but still better than most. This was it for them (if you don't count the horrendous Love Movement); the end of an era.
Tribe's fourth album, Beats, Rhymes, and Life, should be the awkward one, the album on which the group, growing up, falters a little as it figures out what it's going to do next. It isn't. Marked by a number of changes, both internally (this is the album on which the Ummah production crew takes over, and it also marks Q-Tip's new religious faith) and externally (by 1996 Quest's jazzy approach to hip-hop had fallen out of popular favor), Beats finds Tribe taking it as it comes and handling all of the challenges with flair. It's a slower, steadier album than either People's Instinctive Travels or The Low End Theory, but that's a description, not a complaint; rather, it gives you plenty of time to enjoy jams like "1nce Again." It doesn't hurt that Q-Tip and Phife Dog are feeling the flow here; an inspired pairing with distinctive voices and different strengths, they trade verses with fluid grace. --Randy Silver