View source for Electric Relaxation

{{Infobox song
| name          = Electric Relaxation
| cover         = Electricrelaxation.jpg
| alt           = 
| type          = single
| artist        = [[A Tribe Called Quest]]
| album         = [[Midnight Marauders]]
| B-side        = Midnight
| released      = February 28, 1994
| recorded      = 1993
| studio        = 
| genre         = 
* [[Jazz rap]]
* [[psychedelic rap]]
| length        = {{Duration|m=3|s=45}} (single)<br>{{Duration|m=4|s=04}} (album)
| label         = [[Jive Records|Jive]]
| writer        = {{Hlist|[[Q-Tip (musician)|Kamaal Fareed]]|[[Ronnie Foster]]|[[Ali Shaheed Muhammad]]|[[Phife Dawg|Malik Taylor]]}}
| producer      = A Tribe Called Quest
| prev_title    = [[Award Tour]]
| prev_year     = 1993
| next_title    = [[Oh My God (A Tribe Called Quest song)|Oh My God]]
| next_year     = 1994
| misc          = {{External music video|{{YouTube|WHRnvjCkTsw|"Electric Relaxation"}}}}
}}

"'''Electric Relaxation'''" is a song by American [[Hip hop music|hip hop]] group [[A Tribe Called Quest]], released in February 1994 by [[Jive Records]] as the second single from their third album, ''[[Midnight Marauders]]'' (1993). It contains a sample of the song "[[Two Headed Freap#Track listing|Mystic Brew]]" by [[jazz]] [[organist]] [[Ronnie Foster]] and peaked at number 65 on the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]. The accompanying music video was directed by [[Josh Taft]]. The beat of the song was ranked as the third greatest hip-hop beat of all time by Rock the Bells in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rockthebells.com/articles/best-50-hip-hop-beats-rock-the-bells/|title=ROCK THE BELLS RADIO NAMES "SHOOK ONES PT. II" GREATEST HIP-HOP BEAT|work=Rock The Bells|date=January 2, 2024}}</ref> The track was featured as the opening theme song for [[The WB]]'s [[black sitcom]] ''[[The Wayans Bros.]]'' for the first two seasons.

==Production==
In a conversation with ''[[XXL (magazine)|XXL]]'', [[Phife Dawg]] revealed that the [[Hip hop production|beat]] for "Electric Relaxation" was created in his grandmother's basement by [[Q-Tip (musician)|Q-Tip]]:

{{quote|I remember coming home from somewhere—my grandmother gave him a key, the whole nine, he used to just go in and do his thing—I came home from some trip and I walked in the kitchen, and you know, he's in the basement and you could hear the music coming up, and all I heard was ''that.'' I didn't even say hello to my grandmother or anyone else in the house, I was just like, "Hold on!" and went downstairs. "Yo, what the hell is that?!" He was like, "Yo, that shit is crazy, right?" And it has evolved into what it is now.&nbsp;... On that record, he wrote my lines, and I wrote his—actually, we wrote our own lines, and when we recorded, we traded. That's why the whole back and forth, you know what I mean?<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2013/11/phife-breaks-ten-favorite-tribe-called-quest-songs/3/ |title=Phife Breaks Down His Ten Favorite A Tribe Called Quest Songs |work=[[XXL (magazine)|XXL]] |date=November 8, 2013 |accessdate=October 19, 2017}}</ref>}}

The song features multiple samples, including "[[Two Headed Freap|Mystic Brew]]" by [[Ronnie Foster]] and "Outside Love" by Brethren.

==Critical reception==
Andy Beevers from ''[[Music Week]]'' gave the song three out of five, saying, "These days ATCQ are a bit too left field to appeal to the masses, but they still have pienty of admirers."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Andy|last=Beevers|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1994/Music-Week-1994-03-05.pdf|title=Market Preview: Dance|magazine=[[Music Week]]|date=March 5, 1994|page=13|access-date=April 25, 2025}}</ref> Pan-European magazine ''[[Music & Media]]'' wrote, "The tribe chills out on a soft jazzy beat. Even their raps are soothing and so slow that you can hear it word for word."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1994/MM-1994-03-19.pdf|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=[[Music & Media]]|volume=11|issue=12|date=March 19, 1994|page=9|access-date=April 25, 2025}}</ref>

==Music video==
The music video for "Electric Relaxation" was directed by American director [[Josh Taft]] and produced by Edward Rehfeldt.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1994/BB-1994-03-05.pdf#page=33|title=Music Video: Production Notes|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=March 5, 1994|page=41|access-date=May 10, 2025}}</ref> Taft also directed the video for the group's singles "[[Award Tour]]" and "[[Oh My God (A Tribe Called Quest song)|Oh My God]]" from the same album.

==Charts==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

===Weekly charts===
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1994)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
!scope="row"|[[Record Mirror Club Chart|UK Club Chart]] (''[[Music Week]]'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1994/Music-Week-1994-02-19.pdf|title=The ''RM'' Club Chart|magazine=[[Music Week]], in [[Record Mirror]] (Dance Update Supplemental Insert)|date=February 19, 1994|page=4|accessdate=May 15, 2023}}</ref> 
| 55
|-
{{single chart|Billboardhot100|65|artist=The Pharcyde|access-date=June 25, 2022|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{single chart|Billboarddancesales|2|artist=The Pharcyde|access-date=June 25, 2022|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{single chart|Billboardrandbhiphop|38|artist=The Pharcyde|access-date=June 25, 2022|rowheader=true}}
|-
{{single chart|Billboardrapsongs|13|artist=The Pharcyde|access-date=June 25, 2022|rowheader=true}}
|}
{{col-2}}

===Year-end charts===
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1994)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"|US Maxi-Singles Sales (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA50|title=The Year in Music: Hot Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|volume=106|issue=52|page=YE-76|date=December 24, 1994|access-date=June 3, 2025}}</ref>
| 47
|}
{{col-end}}

==Certifications==
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=A Tribe Called Quest|title=Electric Relaxation|award=Silver|relyear=2005|certyear=2023|id=18802-4960-1|access-date=March 17, 2023}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{A Tribe Called Quest}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1994 singles]]
[[Category:1993 songs]]
[[Category:A Tribe Called Quest songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Q-Tip (musician)]]
[[Category:Jive Records singles]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Q-Tip (musician)]]
[[Category:Songs written by Ali Shaheed Muhammad]]
[[Category:Songs written by Phife Dawg]]
[[Category:Black-and-white music videos]]
[[Category:Music videos directed by Josh Taft]]
[[Category:Jazz rap songs]]
{{1990s-hiphop-song-stub}}