I Left My Wallet In El Segundo – A Tribe Called Quest | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Hot Rap Singles (#9); 1990

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

While much of the hip-hop/rap world was hardcore gangsta in 1990, Tribe members Q-Tip (Jonathan Davis), Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor), Jarobi, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad chose to explore social and political issues often laid out over cool jazz samples taken from greats such as Jimmy Smith, Cannonball Adderly, and Roy Ayers.

When ATCQ reached into the pop world for samples, they avoided the obvious choices, and instead picked out riffs from such diverse artists as Little Feat, Lou Reed, and Rotary Connection.

These unique elements made for a remarkable and strikingly different debut album, People’s Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm, released in April of 1990. Serious-minded songs sat comfortably next to fun tunes, and all of them worked.

The album yielded three hit rap singles: Bonita Applebum, Can I Kick It, and I Left My Wallet In El Segundo, the latter featuring a sample of Funky from the Chambers Brothers 1971 LP, New Generation.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

  • A Tribe Called Quest

Lyrics Written by:

  • Kamaal Fareed
  • Ali Shaheed Muhammad

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Ed Osborne

Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).