We're big, big fans of A Tribe Called Quest. So just how impactful were they?

Released in 2011 and directed by Michael Rapaport, "Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest" chronicles the influential hip-hop group's journey from their formation in Queens to their rise to prominence and eventual breakup.

Topics discussed:

💡 The Power of Innovation in Hip-Hop

🤔 The Complexity of Interpersonal Dynamics

🍫 Phife Dawg’s Battle with Diabetes

🔮 Legacy and Influence on Future Generations

🎵 The Impact of Hip-Hop as a Cultural Movement

Also check out:

Playlist interview with director Michael Rapaport

Credits

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie.

And remember:

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Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club, the show that harmonizes the rhythm of hip hop with the

magic of movies.

2

Today we're discussing the 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A

Tribe Called Quest.

3

We're three old heads who put their old heads together to vibe on these films for you.

4

I'm Dyno Wright, podcaster, filmmaker, longtime hip hop fan, and microphone is on, so of

course communication.

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I'm JB, 80s 90s nostalgia junkie, long time hip hop fan, and a Tribe Called Quest has had

by far the biggest musical impact on me than any other artists and it isn't even close.

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While some people speak in movie quotes, I speak in Tribe lyrics.

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Yes, sir.

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It's definitely true.

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And I'm Boogie, a DJ, long time hip hop fan, and I absolutely love these guys.

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And I can't put into words how they make me feel.

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In this episode, we'll answer the question, just how impactful was A Tribe Called Quest?

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Released in 2011 and directed by Michael Rapaport, Beats Rhymes & Life, The Travels of a

Tribe Called Quest chronicles the influential hip hop group's journey from their formation

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Here are five things you need to know about Beats, Rhymes, and Life, the travels of a

tribe called Quest.

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Number one, the power of innovation and hip-hop.

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A tribe called Quest were pioneers in blending jazz with hip-hop, creating a unique sound

that set them apart from their contemporaries.

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Number two,

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complexity of interpersonal dynamics.

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One of the central themes of the documentary is the tension between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg

Their differing personalities and visions for the group contributed to both their musical

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brilliance and eventual breakup.

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Number three, Phife Dawg's battle with diabetes.

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The film touches on his struggles with diabetes, adding a deeply personal layer to the

group's story.

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Number four, legacy and influence on future generations.

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Despite their ups and downs, the Tribe Called Quest's influence on hip hop and music

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as a whole is undeniable.

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And number five, the impact of hip hop as a cultural movement beats rhymes and life is a

testament to how hip hop is more than just a genre of music, it's a cultural movement.

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All right, Boogie, as usual, why don't you kick us off talking about takeaway number one,

the power of innovation in hip hop from Tribe.

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You know what?

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Because this is your favorite group, I'm gonna pass the rock right back to you, JB.

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Let you kick it off.

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Thanks Boogie.

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Definitely my favorite group.

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Anybody that knows me knows that I'm a huge Tribe stan.

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When their first album dropped, I just couldn't stop listening to it.

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Luck of Lucien, all those classic songs, Bonita Applebum, it just transfixed me and I was

hooked and I just couldn't get enough of that.

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And then Low End Theory comes out and Midnight Marauders and on and on and on.

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talk about innovation in hip hop.

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I can't find a more innovative group.

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As far as a duo in terms of the lyricists, the dynamic between Phife and Tip is

unparalleled.

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Blending the jazz, you can see throughout this documentary too, how Q-Tip just had a

passion for crate digging and crate digging, finding these unique jazz songs to lay the

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tracks down behind their creative.

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vision for lyricism, their fun aspect and the dynamic between the two, like I said, is

just phenomenal.

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It's that fusion and, know, Tip had this almost nasally but smooth vibe to his, to his

tone.

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And the contrast was the higher pitch and Trinidad sometimes coming out in Phife and they

had all types of sports references, pop culture references.

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and just giddiness that just made us smile.

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So like, thank you so much Tribe for all you've done.

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So glad they got inducted into the Hall of Fame.

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Unfortunately, it was posthumously for Phife.

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I can't say enough about Tribe.

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So, Boogie, why don't you share some of your thoughts as well.

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Thank you for passing it to me.

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Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

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So yeah, I mean, the fact that one thing that really struck me was I think Jarobi was

talking about how many famous artists actually lived in the St.

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Albans area, Queens.

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And he showed the wall had James Brown, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, Lena

Horne, John Coltrane.

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And he said, he and Phife used to always walk by that wall and look at it.

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You know, said like one day we're going to be up there on that wall And it was like they

had such a strong admiration for jazz even before they even started, you know, actually

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writing rhymes.

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They just wanted to get up there and be on the same walls as these guys.

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And it was really cool.

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And just the fact that they grew up, you know, in the same area that Run DMC and LL Cool J

were from, yet their sound was completely different than

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than both of them.

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It was crazy how different their sound was despite the fact that they came from the same

neighborhoods, you know?

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And the whole, just the whole blending of jazz into their sound, I think it was said that,

you know, jazz musicians use the improv to search for something melodically, whereas MCs

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are always doing the same thing, but they're searching to find something lyrically.

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And it showed how...

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they used the beats and the smoothness of the music to influence their sound and how their

lyrics came across.

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And I was always in admiration of them, but just hearing that line, it's like, yeah,

that's so true.

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And as you mentioned, JB, the contrast between Q-Tip's voice and Phife Dawg's voice, it

was a perfect blend.

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So yeah, I mean...

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they their thing and I'm glad that we were able to witness the greatness of the Tribe

Called Quest.

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For real.

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I know you're a huge Tribe fan as well and you got your shirt on.

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I'm wearing a basketball jersey, tribute to Phife.

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He used to wear all the types of jerseys and whatnot.

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I got my old school Julius Erving that he would appreciate.

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Your thoughts about Tribe with the innovation and whatnot.

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Q-Tip, the whole band, but Q-Tip as a producer, it's just such impeccable taste in music.

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And he did sample the Bob James's and the Kool and the Gangs, but he also dug deeper past

Minnie Riperton.

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And we'll talk about Lyrics to Go in a second, but going to like Ronnie Laws records and

Grant Green records, wow, like here's the gold mine.

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And he took something that was great.

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and added to it and has a separate thing that's great.

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It's really wonderful to hear.

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it's still fresh today.

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Like you could turn it on now and just listening or watching the documentary again and

hearing the songs all over again, almost for the first time all over again.

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It's just amazing records that they've made.

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And I'm glad they included lyrics to go specifically in this documentary because they have

Minnie Riperton Tune who was,

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cut down by cancer at very young age.

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But they took her sustained note from Inside My Love.

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It seems like for hours.

90

But also electric piano part that goes with it is one of my favorite breakdowns in all of

music period.

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So I'm really glad that Michael Rapaport included that in this because it's my favorite

song and my favorite album and my favorite rap group.

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It was a joy to watch this documentary.

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It was a pure joy.

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and also they were influenced by Mr.

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Magic and DJ Red Alert on the radio.

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It was again, fortuitous timing where they were coming up and started, you know, we'll get

into their dynamics, but at a young age, pre-teens, they were writing lyrics and stuff.

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and a fun fact is that they were just called Quest at first, and then, you know, they

became a Tribe Called Quest, which has a much nicer ring to it.

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Let's get into the complexity of the interpersonal dynamics as takeaway number two.

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for, you know, we see the differing personalities and visions for the group between Q-Tip

and Phife Dawg, but let's go back in time as I, as kind of just alluded to.

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and Phife grew up together.

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I mean, they went to school together.

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They were kind of inseparable.

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And it's funny how the group kind of formed with Jarobi meeting them playing hoops at St.

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Albans Park.

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And the Jungle Brothers went to the same high school too.

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So it was all this like.

107

It's almost like the planets aligned and created this amazing collective that would just

grow into the eventually the native tongues.

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So I thought that was just fascinating to me.

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Boogie, what do you have on some of that stuff as well?

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And then we can get into the more like visions they have.

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Now I thought it was really cool that they've known each other so long.

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like you said, they grew up together.

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And I love the story of how J.

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Jarobi said that he met Phife playing on a basketball court.

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And he said, they used to always sit around in between games.

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He was trying to kick a little beat and then Phife would try to rhyme to it.

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And he said, we got something going on right here.

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And Phife was so cool with Q-tip that he took Jarobi Roby and they

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and then they met Tip, and then they fast forward to high school and Ali Shahid bussing

into the neighborhood by subway to go to school.

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And then he comes across Q-Tip at the high school and like you mentioned, the Jungle

Brothers are there, Mike G and Baby Bam, Africa Baby Bam.

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And it's like, yeah, it was like the perfect...

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know, mixture of all of them coming together at one time.

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And also the key, another key figure in the former formation in getting them on board was

DJ Red Alert.

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Cool DJ Red Alert was Mike G's uncle and he was already established.

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He was an established radio DJ, party DJ, club DJ.

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you know, were, you J B's would try to put some music together to get to Red Alert.

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And you know, Q-Tip was like, yo.

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I got some stuff too, like, you know, I didn't know it was your uncle.

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And he ends up jumping on a song with them and, you know, takes off.

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Meanwhile, you know, Phife is doing his thing.

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You know, not, he could rhyme, but he wasn't as, you know, super interested in it.

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But eventually, thank God for all of our ears, Phife eventually jumped on board and we got

to hear his greatness on the mic as well.

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But no, it was really cool, you know, hearing that little backstory of how they all got

together.

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I was fascinated by that.

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It was funny because remember in the me myself and was it me myself and I know where he

says I'm the one that says black is black and that's from like the Jungle Brothers track

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which may have been his first appearance on record and maybe I'm not 100 % sure but that

was early Jungle Brothers that tip was on.

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But then, you know, we're talking about the complexity of the interpersonal, the tension

starts to rise a little bit because it seemed like Tip was laser focused on his craft,

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laser focused.

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Whereas Phife was, you know, a late teen, you know, when they were, really coming up and

starting to produce albums, maybe late teen, early twenties.

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And he was doing those types of things.

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And he's kind of like had to be prodded to say,

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Let's get to the studio.

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Let's do this.

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Let's do this.

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So became a little bit of a source of tension there.

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then he had to kind of be reined in from time to time.

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And then later on was after Midnight Marauders, know, Phife moves down to Atlanta, right?

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Right before the album came out, was in 93 or 94, 93, yeah.

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And that kind of made it difficult because again, Phife just wants, mean, wants to just

have them accessible, come to the studio, come to studio, and then it gets more

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challenging.

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then...

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The later albums were not nearly as well received and was kind like he was just, it's kind

of Phife's role was kind of getting a little bit lesser of an impact on the group.

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definitely felt like he was less a part of the group.

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Yeah.

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But, but you see both sides of the story, whereas, you know, seemed like tip was a little

bit more, I guess, militant in his styling and Phife's like, let's just do this.

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Let's do this.

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You know, there was a lack of communication and that always hurts things.

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then, leading up to the next takeaway is, is another major complication was Phife Dawg's

battle with, with diabetes.

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Boogie, you talk a little bit about that and how that impacted their dynamic?

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Yeah, this one touched me in more ways than one, being pre-diabetic myself, you know, and

having diabetes in my family.

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But yeah, was one of those things like, I remember the first time I realized, you know,

that he was diabetic is when he said, you know, when's the last time you heard a funky

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diabetic?

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I'm like, wait a minute, what did he just say?

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You know, but he said, you know, he and his mother have, you know, had type one juvenile

diabetes.

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Phife, unfortunately, he admitted it.

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He had an addiction to sugar.

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Those were his own words.

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He's like, I'm addicted to sugar.

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He had to have it despite the fact that he wasn't supposed to.

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And Tip used to be really hard on him.

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Hey, eat right, eat right, eat right.

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Watch what you eat.

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Exercise, exercise, get up, do something, move around.

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And Phife even mentioned that.

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because he was so hard on him, actually ended up causing a little bit of resentment.

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And he ended up, you know, pulling away as most addicts do when you're trying to help them

out in a situation when they're addicted to something.

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But yeah, the sickness, actually, it hindered him in a few ways.

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know, he couldn't make appearances sometimes or he would be out of it or he'd be visibly

unfocused and almost out of it while performing.

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And most people that...

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don't realize that performing on stage, takes a lot out of you physically and mentally.

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And if you're not on your 100 % A-game, it shows and you feel it really hard.

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But yeah, he ended up, you he would go through treatment and everything, trying to get

himself together.

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even Ja Robi even mentioned like when he was in Atlanta, he would drop, he would go down

there and try to, you know, cook the right food for him to eat and try to take care of

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him.

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But eventually, you know, the sickness.

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you know, after the group broke up, they actually ended up pulling back together to go on

a tour because Phife's sickness started to really take a grip on him and he needed, you

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know, to make some money to take care of himself.

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So they all eventually would, you know, pull back together to try to perform.

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But it was too much for him and eventually he needed a, you know, kidney transplant

because of it, which is very unfortunate.

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luckily, you know, his wife was a match for him.

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and was able to give him a new lease on life and gave him a few more rounds to kick it and

keep going.

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But as we all know, he's no longer with us, unfortunately.

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Diabetes is one of those things I tell people all the time.

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You can live with it.

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You can have a pretty somewhat of a normal life, but you have to manage with your body.

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have to take care of yourself.

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And because he had that strong addiction to sugars,

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He drink a lot of soda, so they call me Dr.

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Pepper.

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He admits it in his rhymes.

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see what the end result of not taking care of yourself was,

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I remember that day, it was in March and I think Wright texted me.

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It's like, yo, Phife died.

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I'm like, what?

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I think all three of us were like texting and that was like a really tough day for me.

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And I've had personal tragedy and like that was like, I lost like a good friend.

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Like I was in tears, with celebrities and musicians that I admire so much.

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mean, that was, that was rough.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, it's shame.

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He was only in his 40s.

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He had so much more that he could have provided artistically.

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So yeah, it's a shame.

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mean, cautionary tale.

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But again, just like a lot of addictions, as much as it could be clear to us that just,

you know, break out, it's much more difficult than it seems when you're so addicted.

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Yeah, but it was so sad to see because like you said, they do these tours like it back in

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they're doing appearances throughout and then like he had a camp he was rushed to the

hospital when he went to do that Dennis Miller show and some of these late night shows he

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could you just couldn't perform or and then some concerts he literally leaning on Jarobi

because he didn't have the energy because the sugar levels were fluctuating and I'm like

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And then there was one point he was like literally receiving like dialysis treatments,

think like three times a week.

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I'm like, he shouldn't really be performing.

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mean, I was, you almost wish there was like rapper's pension or something like that.

222

Like I wish he didn't need the money.

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Like I wish there was, some other ways that he could have just relaxed and got the

treatment he needed and not had to tax his body while he's trying to battle this deadly

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disease.

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Yeah, he was saying like, yeah, he was going through the treatments.

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mean, luckily the shows were on the weekends, so he was able to get his treatments during

the week.

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And I'm like, wow.

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He's running, man, running.

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Yeah.

230

Yep, but that becomes a major storyline in this documentary and know, and Phife's legacy,

unfortunately.

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But speaking of legacy, these guys left a huge legacy and influence on future generations.

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So despite the ups and downs, like, it's undeniable how impactful Tribe Called Quest is.

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And like I said, I'm glad they got their flowers with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

induction.

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they elevated the genre to new artistic heights.

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You can't, like I said, I don't have words to describe like how impactful they are to me.

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They always lift my spirits.

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They make me laugh.

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They make me smile.

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They make me dance.

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They increase my creativity whenever I'm feeling down.

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Like I just listen to them because of, it's just hard to describe, but like you can see

the people that were in the film.

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like Pharrell Williams that we spoke about with piece by piece and stuff like that.

243

And in fact, Common said that, I think it was Q-tip introduced him to jazz.

244

Like picture that, like Common was introduced to jazz by like the sampling that Tip had

used in his music.

245

I mean, that is just crazy.

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Like you guys want to talk about some of the other influences that were showcased here?

247

get some Dyno Wright

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heard from Questlove, we heard from so many other artists that were influenced by them.

249

common especially, he wasn't invited to be on the Midnight Marauder's album cover and that

motivated him to be better.

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And so, you know, it really was inspirational for a lot of people.

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It elevated people's craft and it made other people want to get better as well.

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Yeah, he was like, man, that made me want to step my game up.

253

I was like, okay.

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And stepped his game up.

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did.

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Yeah.

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I love Common's flow.

258

But yeah, I remember, you know, black thought from the roots.

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You know, we saying, you know, the roots got the courage to be a band because of them.

260

know, know, Pharrell mentioned, you know, Pharrell said that, you know, Q-tip picks the

best loops and he referred to him, J Dilla.

261

and Kanye as his sons, know, know, you know, Questlove once said, you know, their most

important contribution was the canvas that they used a lot of records in our parents

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collection that we didn't even look at.

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I was like, yeah, and that's true because because he didn't he didn't use the obvious like

most people at the time were using like James Brown samples and like heavy bass samples,

264

things like that.

265

Those heavy break beats.

266

But Tip went jazz route and it just gave him completely different sound.

267

and then we see, yeah.

268

There's a couple of like other, like you can see that the souls of mischief had a brief

appearance in the end of the movie.

269

And you can see a direct parallel between like, you know, a tribe called Quest and the

Roots, a tribe called Quest and Common, you know, a tribe called Quest and the souls of

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mischief.

271

They have, all have a similar look and flow about them.

272

And yeah, it was great to see that, you know, other other MCs and groups giving them their

flowers as well deseerved

273

Yeah.

274

Mos Def was there.

275

Yasiin Bey, as well.

276

Yeah, so.

277

You know, legacy will live on forever, which is incredible.

278

And Tip did end up doing, you know, having a decent solo career.

279

He put out multiple albums and some of those banger songs like Vivrant Thing, Breathe and

Stop.

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They're just insane.

281

Yeah.

282

Tribe.

283

It's a shame the last two Tribe albums, well, Beats, Rhymes, and Life and The Love

Movement weren't their best work.

284

But I want to say that Thank You for Your Service, We'll Take It From Here is a fantastic

record.

285

Really great record.

286

And I'm glad they ended on a high note, literally, because I was disappointed in The Love

Movement.

287

And I need to really go back and listen to it again, because it does have some Dilla

production on there.

288

production on there, but man, I would put the space program up against any other songs.

289

It's that good.

290

And so I'm glad that they at least when they got back together for one more album before

Phife died, they went out on top.

291

Yeah, that's the album.

292

I was like, wow, that was a great album.

293

It's a great album.

294

Absolutely.

295

That one had some political commentary as well, which was great.

296

Yeah.

297

Re-relevant again for this political moment.

298

Yep, yep.

299

And that's a good lead in to the final takeaway was Tribe's impact on hip hop as a

cultural movement.

300

You see, when they were first forming, they really brought Afrocentrism to the forefront,

a different sense of fashion and other cultural expressions.

301

And this whole native tongues collective.

302

So it was a stark contrast to some of the other movements that were happening.

303

You had public enemy, which was, you know, a lot of protest rap and very powerful and,

belligerent a bit.

304

And the West coast gangster rap NWA and they totally had a different chill vibe.

305

They jive right when they met De La soul and Monie Love and Queen Latifah, leaders of new

school and,

306

Jungle Brothers.

307

Brothers, Black Sheep.

308

So together they all formed a native tongues, which was just all about kind of like, like

you say, Boogie, backpackers or like hip nerd, you know, kind of nerdy style and wearing

309

some baggy clothes and whatnot.

310

But it's just like, hey, we can have fun and we can do this conscious rap.

311

You know, we don't need to do the F to police.

312

That's been done.

313

You can kind of just be unique and be yourself.

314

So I was always drawn to that.

315

as a form of the cultural expression.

316

And that's had a lasting impact as well.

317

yeah.

318

Yeah, I call them like the Afrocentric hip hop hippies, you know, because that's

essentially what they stated.

319

They rapped about, you peace and togetherness.

320

And I mean, yeah, there was, you know, they definitely, you know, made some songs that,

you know, spoke about what was going on, but for the most part, they were, you know, very

321

positive and uplifting.

322

And that stark contrast, as you mentioned, to what was going on with some of the other

acts that were around at the time that they started, they put one of the greatest collab-o

323

songs of all time with Buddy.

324

That song, man, that song rings.

325

And just...

326

Just looking at how, like we mentioned with the parallels between some of the later acts

that would come after them, there's no doubt that the Native tongue movement and the Tribe

327

Called Quests, being at the forefront of that, the influences is so apparent.

328

There's no denying it.

329

Yeah, I I just love their style, love their flow, the dynamic between.

330

Phife and Tip.

331

Said there'd never be another.

332

Well, Check the Rhime has always been like my favorite that I would go back to.

333

That's one of those songs I would literally listen to on repeat, even when I had a

cassette back in the day and I would write down the lyrics and go back and play them both

334

in my head.

335

I remember you and me boogie we'd Dyno a Wright record, let's do it just for fun.

336

I was just like, I was blown away by that back and forth.

337

I can go on and on about some of my favorite songs, Award Tour.

338

Like I said, Luck of Lucien mean, that's just so creative way back in the first album.

339

And Bonita Applebum how it's like, they talked about that being like a fun flirtation

and...

340

it's funny, DynoWright, have to talk about Left My Wallet in El Segundo, because that's

one that you mentioned like really put a lot of hip hop on the map or tribe for you.

341

And I didn't realize that.

342

And I remembered now that that was a reference to Sanford and Son.

343

Yep.

344

Yes.

345

I actually went out to YouTube and I type in Sanford and Son and El Segundo and that was

Red Fox had a lot of jokes about El Segundo.

346

He says, I'm like, where are you going, Elsie Elsie?

347

I'm going El Segundo And that was funny that Tip really like chose that town in California

to make the whole song about based on a jokes by Fred Sanford.

348

Yeah, his influences are wide.

349

But seeing the video for I Left My Wallet in El Segundo, that really turned the page for

me as a music fan.

350

Like, here's some hip hop I could really get into.

351

And not that I didn't like the stuff that had come out before then, I did, but this was

different.

352

They were rapping with different stuff.

353

different flow, the music was different and set me on a path and haven't looked back

since.

354

Yeah, that video was so fun.

355

I love that video.

356

I would just stop and like, you know, try to memorize it and say it along.

357

I remember the first time I actually, well, I can't do it now because it's been many years

in I forget a lot of stuff, but I remember when I, the first time I was able to rap along

358

with him, was like, yo, I got it.

359

I got it finally.

360

I got it.

361

It was so simple and it's so fun.

362

It's like, you know, like you made some whole rap about, you know, we get home and he's

like, shoot.

363

of my wallet.

364

It's like, dang.

365

My wallet I forgets.

366

Yeah.

367

Anytime anything's three days long, I always think, oh, three days coming and three more

going.

368

Talk about living life in tribe lyrics.

369

That's the one.

370

like, I'll have the fruit punch.

371

You know, it's just like, what is like, that makes sense.

372

Pedro with the sombrero!

373

It's like funny.

374

Well, in the videos too, like bugging out when they put those white things in their eyes

and it's just like, so freaky, they talked about that in documentary and the bass on

375

bugging out too.

376

that's what like low end theory was all about the bass.

377

If you talk, what does low end theory mean?

378

A lot of it is about bass

379

some of its cultural, but they're like talking about being on the low end of the totem

pole.

380

There's different theories around it, but a lot of it was like about being bass heavy.

381

And even in Midnight Marauders, they talk about the voice that comes on that does the

little interludes.

382

It's kind of like, we hope you find this bass heavy.

383

Yeah.

384

And it's funny.

385

The lyrics just crack me up because.

386

My Venn diagram is sports and so they have this reference like keep the bases loaded like

the New York Mets, they would say that in the sky pager.

387

Do you know the importance of a sky pager?

388

then, you know, coming with more hits than the Braves and the Yankees and all that stuff.

389

And I always love when like Beastie Boys do that too.

390

Like got more hits like I was Rod Carew or Sadaharu Oh, I'm like, this is insane.

391

But another one, I'm also a huge Three's company fan.

392

that was another time when I was like,

393

personally hurt when John Ritter died, I was like, oh my God, I love physical comedy.

394

like, they also mentioned Jack Tripper in one or two of their songs too.

395

Yeah, so I was like, man, these guys, they have all the references.

396

The thing with the Seaman's furniture that they play, I like, oh my God.

397

I remember joking about that when we were in college, you're like, oh my God, that is just

so funny.

398

be in the Northeast New York tri-state area to understand that, really understand that.

399

But man, it's really funny.

400

I still have a jingle in my head.

401

I still have a Seaman's furniture jingles in my head.

402

Exactly.

403

Hahaha!

404

It is like, yeah, it was funny in this documentary.

405

They didn't even really mention scenario at all.

406

The scenario is maybe the probably it's got to be the most mainstream of songs that are

labeled as Tribe Called Quest, even though it has like Busta Rhymes and Charlie Brown from

407

Leaders of New School.

408

like that wasn't really even mentioned on this whole documentary.

409

I forgot about that.

410

Yeah, that's another one of those great hip hop collabos.

411

Another one of the top ones scenario.

412

It was funny because that video I was cracked up at too, because it had like the early

Microsoft windows style with the different options and fields.

413

Yeah, meters and whatever.

414

And it's funny because flipping the towns like New York, North, Kackalacka and Compton.

415

That's one that you could just go on and on and on.

416

That's a fun one to do like a karaoke or something.

417

Like, can you keep up with it?

418

Yeah.

419

Yeah.

420

Yeah, but so much fun.

421

So legendary tribe.

422

Yeah, and I know we mentioned it before.

423

We mentioned it already.

424

DynoWright that lyrics to go, man, that sample.

425

I remember the first time I heard it, I almost cried.

426

I love that song, that Minnie Riperton inside my love.

427

Oh my God.

428

And I don't know what, put that part, that sample.

429

Oh man.

430

It's yeah, it's a great song that they did something else with it made another great song.

431

It's it's Yeah Yeah, it's Still my favorite tribe song And even that that last half of the

album of Midnight Marauders orders is so good.

432

it just goes into Man, it's like a solid unit and no skips

433

No skips, none.

434

It's funny because I got my I got my son Iceberg into Tribe and he has a couple of them on

vinyl and I was rewatching this the other day and he's like, he was half paying attention.

435

Then he kind of perked up when he started hearing some of the songs.

436

This is great.

437

It's funny because he loves Can I Kick It?

438

Because it's very iconic, the sound.

439

And it's funny because when you hear that the Lou Reed sample, you never know is like, is

this Can I Kick It?

440

Is it?

441

Take a Walk in the Wild Side.

442

Even Mark Wahlberg did one using that one where he's like, Jenny was a high school

cheerleader.

443

So it's funny because that song has been sampled so many times, but I don't think anybody

does it as good as Tribe, for sure.

444

they're great musicians and great musicians make great music.

445

Yeah.

446

Exactly.

447

It's funny because like, you know, hearing Chris Lighty talk a little bit, who was their

manager, who also went on to become a record mogul himself, with Violater the records.

448

But he was talking about how much of a perfectionist tip was as far as trying to get the

production right and making sure that the sound right.

449

Who knows how many, you know, countless songs they might have recorded that we never even

heard of.

450

And he said they had to go in and actually snatch the low end theory from them to get it

out because they were like so, and they're trying to perfect it so much.

451

And thinking about how long it took for them to get that out, they would have, wouldn't

have been in such a perfectionists as how much more music we could have got out of them.

452

That's crazy to think about.

453

Because the stuff that they put out was so good that they probably had a bunch of other

stuff that they didn't even put out.

454

Yeah, probably better than a lot of rappers best stuff.

455

Right.

456

Yeah.

457

It was funny you mentioned Chris Lighty because all these lyrics are in my head.

458

They live rent free in my head.

459

And so it's like, what's Chris Lighty if he wasn't such a baby?

460

That's one of a lyrics and Skeff Anselm he gets props too.

461

You see Skeff Anselm you see Bob Powers, the mic on.

462

We always joke about that.

463

Bob Power.

464

Bob Power.

465

Yeah, Bob Power.

466

Make my stuff sound clear.

467

All those guys, it's kind of like, oh, wow, that's who they were referring to in some of

these lyrics.

468

Because they were like inside jokes back in the day.

469

And I was like, oh, I see how these guys, even Ali Shaheed Muhammad got me doing

calisthenics and all this.

470

you know what I was telling my son was like, when he says like award tour with Muhammad my

man, it's like, it's Ali Shaheed Muhammad.

471

I'm sure he's talking about, I'm just like that.

472

It's funny.

473

So some other references that we see, did you guys see brother Ernie taking pictures at

one point?

474

Ernie Paniccioli?

475

Yeah, it was kind of quick, maybe in the first 20 minutes or so.

476

They're out there and I see brother Ernie taking some photos.

477

And it was pretty cool.

478

And then Bobbito was on this one as well too.

479

Yeah.

480

They've been popping up a lot on the things we've been doing.

481

But yeah, Tribe's got...

482

There's Malik Taylor Boulevard, right?

483

Where they go, Linden Boulevard, represent, represent, right?

484

They renamed the street after Phife.

485

so that's pretty cool.

486

We got to make a Pilgrim, pilgrimage there one time and see the murals and whatnot.

487

Yeah.

488

But, it's funny when I first saw this shortly after it came out, I wasn't a big fan of it

because that fighting and bickering like really hurt a lot.

489

But now I have a better appreciation for it because I got to relive some more of the

music, a lot of the family aspect of it early on and how Jarobi White cared for Phife and

490

all that stuff and the upbringing, the legacy and all that stuff.

491

It did really hurt me though to see them at each other's throats, especially as Phife was

going through his major battle.

492

health battles with diabetes.

493

So that part still, was like literally literally in tears.

494

I was like, yeah, this is tough.

495

But, and I think that didn't tip have a lot of issues with Michael Rappaport about it.

496

I mean, obviously he had to give him some creative license to do it, but I think they were

bickering for quite a while after this, from what I understood.

497

Yeah, something like that.

498

Yeah, I to look it up, but...

499

I remember the first time I watched it, I was just like so in awe that I actually kind of

glossed over the bickering.

500

And I think watching it again this time, I kind of zeroed in on it and it was almost, it

was sickening for me to see that, the fighting.

501

I was like, my God, really?

502

man, really?

503

it's like family fighting.

504

Like if I was sitting here and watched the two of you guys like go at each other's throat

and it's like, man, and I'm like, man, I'd be like crying.

505

I'm like, come on guys, man, you're my brothers.

506

Like this is how I feel about them that like family is like, come on.

507

Yeah.

508

Yeah.

509

That's right.

510

That's what Phife's wife was saying.

511

I feel bad for Ali because he's stuck in the middle.

512

But.

513

You you don't know who to believe as to who's in the wrong.

514

Like I said, it's communication gap.

515

He won't talk to me.

516

It's almost like childish.

517

Like he won't talk to me.

518

He won't talk to me.

519

He He walked right by me.

520

walked.

521

It's like life is short.

522

Literally life is short.

523

Right.

524

I mean.

525

Yeah, it's interesting.

526

This is 2011.

527

So they've shot they shot this before that and that many years ago it's they show and Rap

oport shows this on purpose that The conversation that Phife and his wife have about him

528

seeing a therapist he's not having it and you men in that society at the time weren't all

accepting of therapy and so

529

be interesting.

530

always thought, you the this documentary comes out in 2011.

531

Their last album comes out in 2006.

532

That five year period would have been a great documentary as well, because you go through

all this.

533

This documentary ends with them not having not made a record since 98.

534

There's still one record left in their contract.

535

And so, you know, it sort of kind of foreshadows something.

536

It'd be really interesting to see, like, what happens to the actually like what did they

do to

537

get a record out.

538

How much of the hatchet did they bury?

539

Did they even get some kind of mediation?

540

I forget the actual story now, like how did last album come about.

541

So it be very interesting to see.

542

Because it's tough to watch your heroes fighting each other.

543

It's like Iron Man and Captain America aren't supposed to be fighting each other.

544

They'll be fighting the Skrulls or something.

545

Yeah

546

Right.

547

know, have to direct your energy.

548

You're on the same team, guys.

549

Yeah.

550

Yeah.

551

why are you beating the crap out of each other, man?

552

Yeah.

553

Always good to see the Tribe.

554

I think it's a solid flick.

555

But I think we need more Tribe content overall.

556

We just need more Tribe content.

557

I want a Tribe channel.

558

All Tribe, all day, all night.

559

Tribe TV.

560

Shirt to red, green and black images and they just make cartoons from these guys and, and

products and whatnot.

561

Yeah.

562

Sure.

563

Guys, guys wanna go around the room and do our rating here?

564

Beats, Rhymes, and Lives, The Travels, Tribe Called Quest Documentary, Boogie, bring that

funky flick back or

565

or leave it in the vault.

566

Yeah, despite the sadness of watching the two of them, Phife and Tip bickering, I

definitely want to bring it back.

567

It's definitely got a lot of relevance.

568

And if you're not a fan, you should watch it.

569

Definitely if you are a fan, by all means, watch it.

570

I if you want to know about them, watch it.

571

Yeah, DynoWright, How about yourself?

572

Bring that funky flick back or leave it in the vault?

573

Definitely bring this funky flick back.

574

For people who aren't all that aware of a Tribe Called Quest, it's definitely a good way

to get into them and see.

575

Because the Tribe Called Quest is your favorite rapper's favorite rapper, right?

576

So go find out what the source is.

577

Yeah, I'm saying the same thing, bring that funky flick back.

578

course, anything tribe related, unless it was something that was going to totally bad

mouth them, right?

579

This is, you get to see the dynamic between the lyricism, you get to see their upbringing,

you get to see their influence on others.

580

Even the animation they had at the beginning, which was kind of neat.

581

The whole crew, Jarobi.

582

White, Ali Shaheed

583

Muhammad, some of the guys that aren't quite as visible that were super influential and,

you know.

584

bring this back.

585

Excellent work here.

586

Hip-hop movie club is produced by your HHMC's JB, Boogie and Dyno Wright.

587

Theme music by Boogie.