I Left My Wallet in El Segundo

"I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" is the debut single from A Tribe Called Quest's debut album "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" released in 1990. The song contains a sample of "Funky" by The Chambers Brothers as the main hook.

The entire music video is narrated. The group finds themselves at a police station where Q-Tip begins his story. The tale starts with Q-Tip's mother winning a game show prize and leaving on a month-long cruise trip. After her departure, Q-Tip calls Ali and they take a road trip across America in Q-Tip's mother's car. The group gets lost on the way and Q-Tip asks a four-foot person with a sombrero for directions. Then, at a nearby pub, Q-Tip is distracted by an attractive woman and forgets his wallet before they leave. The waitress then takes his wallet off the counter. They return home and Q-Tip drops off Ali. Only then does Q-Tip realizes that his wallet is missing and he rounds up the group to get it back. When they get back to El Segundo, California they want to stay longer, and the video fades out.

The song title is a reference to Sanford and Son, a popular television sitcom from the 70s. Fred Sanford, a character from the show, would always mention El Segundo as a joke, like “Godzilla Eats El Segundo!” for example.

Q also tells us this in the movie/documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.

El Segundo is a part of LA county in California.

"On “Left My Wallet in El Segundo,” when I heard the title, I was like, “What the hell does that mean?” But it was never about that. People could’ve gotten lost on it, but I never did because the lyrics of the song described our relationship. Even though the title was foreign, the body of the song wasn’t foreign, so it all made sense in a very strange way to me, and that’s Q-Tip’s genius." - via Wax Poetics

Writer Q-Tip explained how he came up with the idea and lyrics for this song in and interview with Wax Poetics:

"On “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo,” I would always watch Sanford & Son, and Fred Sanford always talked about El Segundo, so I turned it into a fun record. It was nonsensical."