Actor Michael Rapaport was such a passionate fan of hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest , it’s almost tragic what happened after he was granted permission to film the group, reunited after disbanding in 1998, for his directorial debut in the documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest . Having captured incredibly intimate footage of members Phife Dawg, Q-Tip, Jarobi White, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad — along with a veritable oral history of the ’90s-era Native Tongues hip-hop movement culled from musical luminaries of past and present — Rapaport found himself on the outs with A Tribe Called Quest just as his passion project was on the brink of a distribution deal.
Movie producers routinely say they’re about artistic integrity, but Metalwork Pictures’ Andrew Levitas finds himself in the unique position of actually being an artist himself, having come up through the New York City art scene as a heralded painter, sculptor, and photographer. So when he speaks of box office potential as being almost incidental to a film as work of art, he’s the rare producer who actually sounds genuinely unconcerned with financial returns.
Certain members of legendary NYC hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest had voiced mixed reactions to Michael Rapaport ‘s incisive documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest even before its Sundance debut and subsequent distribution deal. But Friday night in Hollywood, all save one of Tribe’s four members came out to support the film, sharing the emotional experience of watching their musical history — and the complex behind-the-scenes clashes that led to their disbanding — play out on screen.
‘It’s a celebration not only of Tribe, but of the culture,’ Q-Tip tells MTV News, despite his disapproval of some aspects of the documentary. By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Sway Calloway A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip Photo: MTV News Although A Tribe Called Quest felt some of the business behind Michael Rapaport’s documentary on the group was Industry Rule #4080 (read: shady), they still want fans to go see the film. “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest” is a window into not only the career of one of hip-hop’s most influential acts, they said, but also the culture itself. “I encourage everybody still to see this film,” Q-Tip told MTV News. “Not only because it’s about us, but it’s really about the hip-hop movement, man. It really, really is, that’s on everything. It’s a celebration not only of Tribe, but of the culture. Of what goes into making records: the ups, the downs, the switching of the times. It’s a beautiful story about hip-hop. He really did a great job, and I commend him for it, still. He really did an amazing job.” According to Q-Tip, he and Tribe just want to get the story totally correct. “Again, this is just another warning shot … a flare coming from the cannon so that they can get this thing right,” Q-Tip said. The MC also expressed the necessity for seminal rap artists and groups to tell their stories on their own terms. “Everybody out there in hip-hop who’s crossed that threshold, who’s done work, who has a history — whether it be Queen Latifah or Rakim or Wu-Tang or Jay-Z or Nas or Ice Cube or N.W.A — yo, tell y’all own stories,” Q-Tip said, looking into the camera for emphasis. “Be in charge of your own stories, you hear me?” The Queens MC then likened rappers to griots : West African storytellers who share their tales via oral tradition. “We gotta pass our own stories on,” Q-Tip continued. “This is part of our tradition as African-Americans predominantly. Let’s tell our own stories. We can let everybody come in and participate with us in this, but don’t fall for the Hollywood, nobody’s ever done this before. We hip-hop, man. This is a hip-hop nation. We crack the mold, we break the rules. We define this culture that we in right now, this Western culture, the sh– that’s moving around the world, whether it be Tribe to Lil Wayne, Drake to Kanye, I don’t care. This hip-hop sh– is our sh–, and when we start moving in, control your stories, man. Tell your stories — that’s what I learned from this.” Will you check out the Tribe documentary? Let us know in the comments. Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: A Tribe Called Quest Related Artists A Tribe Called Quest
In Avatar , Zoe Saldana had to worry about greedy, violent humans and what they would do to her species. Now, a year later, the actress is once again under attack. On an upcoming episode of 90210 , AnnaLynne McCord’s Naomi will attempt to impress a love interest… by making like a member of the Na’vi. But can she possibly compete with the woman who made this tribe famous? You tell us! Who makes a better Na’vi?
Photo credit: Astig!! / Creative Commons It’s interesting to me that many people judge Los Angeles without really knowing her. She really is the City of Angels. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for going on a dozen years now, and at long last I can affirmatively state that I have found “my tribe.” I’m referring to a group of like-minded people, who I am honored to call my friends and colleagues. These angels possess the qualities that I most admire in people: Social and environmental consciousness, spiritual, activists, c… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Filed under: Linkin Park Linkin Park went off-the-wall on sacred ground recently — stopping by one of the holiest places on Earth to pay their respects … the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. As for the yarmulkes, most of the guys aren’t part of the Tribe … but it’s considered… Read more
‘We knocked down the door,’ Phife Dawg tells MTV News at Rock the Bells stop. By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Sway Calloway and Shaheem Reid Q-Tip and Phife Dawg perform at Rock the Bells Sunday Photo: Getty Images Making The Moment: Midnight Marauders A Tribe Called Quest pulled off the rare feat of dropping back-to-back-to-back classic albums in the early 1990s, with People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory, and Midnight Mauraders. But while they were creating those masterpieces, they were fully unaware of the impact the group was having on hip-hop. According to Phife Dawg, ATCQ were just concerned with keeping the momentum going from one project to the next. “Gotta keep it coming,” he told MTV News. ” People’s Instinctive, we knocked down the door. Low End Theory, we knocked it off the hinges. And we just had to skyrocket after that. I don’t think we thought about it that much; we just decided to be ourselves and have fun with it. But I remember us saying to each other, ‘Let’s not make this a conceptual album — let’s just have fun. Rhyme over these beats and do what we do.’ But one important thing that we always had in mind was how the album would be sequenced, and I think that’s what really made the album banging.” While the four-man collective — Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheem Muhammad and Jarobi — didn’t realize yet the place they were carving out in music history, as they reflected on their careers, Tribe, touring this month on the Rock the Bells trek, said they understand the benchmarks they’ve achieved. And in particular, the influence they’ve had on a bevy of MCs, from Lupe Fiasco to J.Cole to Kid Cudi, all whom have burrowed from Tribe’s rythmic sound and everyman raps. Tribe’s DJ and one of the group’s core producers, Ali Shaheed, said he wished there were even more room for acts with that kind of artistic slant. “There are a lot of people who are bringing a lot of technique and style out there,” he said. “Hip-hop is different these days. One thing that’s missing is that there used to be a plethora [of diverse acts]. It only feels like just a handful on the mainstream level that’s impacting, like Drake, Lupe, Kid Cudi. They each have their own fanbase, which says a lot, that people are opening their minds to follow artists like that. But I would like to see a whole lot more. There was dozens of dozens of groups making an impact when we were out there. It’d be nice to see that again on a mainstream level.” Which up-and-coming MCs most remind you of A Tribe Called Quest? Let us know in the comments!
Forget the tribe. The law has spoken. A judge in Cancun, has issued a warrant for the arrest of ex-Survivor producer Bruce Beresford-Redman for the April murder of his wife, Monica…
Filed under: TMZ Sports One of Diamond Dallas Page’s biggest regrets — not playing the Jew card when he had the chance. The former WWF great — real name Page Joseph Falkinburg, Jr.
