A Tribe Called Quest

I remember the first time I heard that voice. “Do I love you? Do I lust for you? Am I a sinner cuz I do the two?” spoke Kamal “Q-Tip” Fareed (née Jonathan Davis) over a mélange of psychedelic samples. This was the moment when I really fell in love with and dedicated myself to hip-hop. It was 1990 and I was 12 years old at home watching Yo! MTV Raps with my friends. These lyrics are from the single “Bonita Applebum” from A Tribe Called Quest’s first album People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. I was enraptured by this odd quartet of bohemian, baby-dredded, wooden beads-wearing guys: Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi. I’d found ‘my people’. Major swoon.

About The Film - Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest

Michael Rapaport—best known for his roles as an actor in films like Black & White, Zebrahead, and Bamboozled—apparently had a similar connection to Tribe, as they are affectionately known by fans, and in 2008 took it upon himself to follow the band around for a year and make a documentary film, his first as director.

Using a mix of direct address interviews with the band and their associates (including special appearances by Philly 360° Ambassadors Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of The Roots), cinema verité footage from reunion performances, archival videos, and newly created animation that recalls the early animations created for ATCQ in the 1990s, Rapaport infuses his film with a heavy-handed dose of nostalgia. 

In interviews Rapaport has referred to the group as “The Beatles” of the hip-hop generation, and he spends a significant part of the film focused on a McCartney vs. Lenon-esque tiff between group members Q-Tip and Phife. Lucky for fans this negative detour doesn’t take away from an otherwise lovely trip down memory lane, including a mini-history of the formation of ATCQ’s crew Native Tongues, and an ultimately satisfying and earnest film experience.

Expect some surprises but definitely go and see it.

Insider fact: Madlib contributed original music to the score!

Beats, Rhymes & Life recently won Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film opens July 22 in Philadelphia at Ritz Theaters Ritz East (125 S. 2nd Street).

View the Beats, Rhymes & Life trailer.

Q+A With Monie Love

For a true insider perspective, I caught up with former Philadelphia on-air personality and Native Tongues member Monie Love, who recently performed with Q-Tip at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, to ask her opinion of the film.

Maori: What did you think of the film?

Monie Love: I thought it was really good. I learned a lot. Even as an insider and as a family member there were certain things about the group that I didn’t know. By the time I came to the United States, ATCQ was already formed. I didn’t know that Phife and Tip went to elementary school together or that Phife and Jarobi were childhood best friends. I didn’t know that it was Phife who introduced Tip to rhyming. I found the film extremely enlightening—it was a pleasure for me to learn about these guys who are like my siblings.

Maori: How did you meet and come to work with A Tribe Called Quest?

Monie Love: I met The Jungle Brothers and Queen Latifah when they came to London on a mini-tour in 1987. Afrika [Baby Bam] and I actually became an item and at the same time Latifah and I became really good friends. The following year I moved to the United States and was working on my record and Afrika introduced me to Q-Tip, and soon after I was inducted into Native Tongues.

Maori: How did you come to participate in this film?

Monie Love: I’ve known Mike [Rapaport] for a long time. It really doesn’t surprise me at all that he wanted to do a film about his favorite group of all time—A Tribe Called Quest—because Mike is a diehard hip-hop head. He’s just one of those dudes everyone knew from the hip-hop circuit in New York. He had a very popular bar in the 1990s that was frequented by all the hip-hop notables of the time. He and I became friends through Angie Martinez. He contacted me to be a part of the film and flew to Philly, because I was still in Philly at the time, and we filmed my interview in March 2009. I took him to South Street, we got some chicken cheesesteaks from Ishkabibbles and each had a gremlin.

Maori: Did you feel nostalgic after seeing the film—even though you were a part of this history?

Monie Love: I couldn’t believe what I was wearing! I swore I looked cool back then. I was mortified. I had a blazer and a Hawaii 5-0 shirt on. What was I thinking? (Laughs). But in all seriousness, people that are older than me, who listened to a different type of music, used to say back in the day about hip-hop ‘oh it’s a just a fad, this stupid music, etc.’ and I really try not to speak that way about music today. But, I really miss this time. When we were all on stage…it was nuts, it was family, a party. I don’t see that energy when I see folks on stage with each other today. Everyone’s ice-grilling and stone-faced. I want to say to them ‘what you mad for?’

Maori: There’s been quite a buzz about how unhappy some members of the group are with the film. Have you talked to any of them about it?

Monie Love: I’ve spoken to both Tip and Phife and they were concerned that the film focused, perhaps a bit too heavily, on their inner-family feud. They didn’t want that to be what people took away from the film.

Maori: Rapaport has said that Tribe is like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones of the hip-hop generation. Since you’re from England, what do you think about that?

Monie Love: I’d say it’s a pretty accurate statement. I don’t think they know how instrumental and important and groundbreaking they were and are. I don’t think they realize how they’ve served as a catalyst for the entire genre today.

Maori: What’s your favorite A Tribe Called Quest album?

Monie Love: Midnight Marauders.

Maori: Is there any possibility of a Native Tongues reunion?

Monie Love: Phife and I were just talking about this on Twitter this morning! We’d be with it but we don’t know if we could get everyone’s schedules together. It’d have to be all of us— De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Tribe, Black Sheep, Brand Nubian, Latifah, me, everybody. But if it could happen, I don’t think hip-hop would know what to do with itself. It would be epic.

Insider tip: Monie Love will host and perform at The African American Museum in Philadelphia on July 27 as part of “Ladies First” an all-female celebration of women in hip-hop including Bahamadia and other local musicians.