People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

A Tribe Called Quest's debut announced a gentler, more playful kind of rap, and the cover sets the mood. Painted, colour-blocked figures and shapes in bright blues, reds, greens and yellows fill the frame like a patchwork city, with the long title hand-lettered across the middle.

The cover art is credited to Paije Hunyady and Bryant Peters, with photography by Ari Marcopoulos and Justin Herz. The People's Graphic Design Archive describes the figures as moving through a dreamlike, cosmic landscape, an image of the album's bohemian and inclusive message. A 25th anniversary edition of the album followed in 2015.

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was released on 17 April 1990 on Jive. With songs like "Can I Kick It?" and "Bonita Applebum," it set out the jazz-loving sound of the Native Tongues collective and led straight to The Low End Theory.