Seems like more of a Jungle Brothers show than a Native Tongues reunion but I can dream right? Music by none other than Kool DJ Red Alert. link

If you’ve been unlucky as me (and Esquire) then you’ve come across the newish McDonald’s Big Mac promotional campaign, incorporating tv & radio spots, with “remakes” of highly regarded tracks from Craig Mack and A Tribe Called Quest. I saw the commercial online a few days ago and although it was uncomfortable I chuckled and kept it moving. But today I had the displeasure of hearing the Check The Rhime version (you want fries with that? all the time yo! or some such nonsense) and I was thoroughly disappointed. At least the vid was somewhat minimalist, making use of the instrumental only, but the gall of re-writing lyrics! Ayoooo! So in order to help you direct your disappointment I sorta pinpointed the parties responsible: Artists & Brands LLC (Darkchild’s company), Burrell Communications (experts in engaging African Americans, their words, not mine), I.B. Fokuz (rapper), Nizm (rapper) & of course McDonalds (press contact).

Remember the movie Brown Sugar? Of course you don’t. That’s because its premise—the culturally unifying love of hip-hop—is not, in itself, sufficient to sustain a movie. The same problem occurs with Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travel

via hiphopmusic.com

It’s one thing to read about it but being able to see the people, their facial expressions, brings another level of understanding. But hey, what is this “Internet Fodder” that Michael speaks of? I have never heard of such a thing.

A music docu that mostly dodges “Behind the Music”-style tall tales or breathless evangelism, Michael Rapaport’s “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest” gives the seminal early ’90s hip-hop group as stylish and intimate a treatment as fans could hope for, paying as much attention to the music in question as it does to the characters who made it. Evergreen interest in the group should provide very healthy ancillary, and a theatrical excursion is certainly a possible scenario.

and yes, the film rightfully addresses the split:

Things turn uncomfortable in the later going, as the group breaks up, then reunites, with festering antagonism between Q-Tip and Phife reaching ugly levels. There’s some startling 2008 footage of a backstage blow-up between the two that nearly turns violent, followed by rather vicious post-mortem commentary. Shortly thereafter, Phife’s health takes a bad turn, requiring a kidney donation from his wife.

Rapaport attempts to put a happier face on things at the end, as the group reunites for a handful of shows, but it feels a bit disingenuous, as tensions clearly still remain. The film also pays somewhat scant attention to the group’s final two albums, which is strange as the penultimate one provides the film with its title.

On the night of the Sundance premier of Rapaport’s Beats, Rhymes & Life, as Phife was being moved to tears by the crowd, Ali Shaheed Muhammad was across the ocean in the UK somewhere getting cam-grilled by an enthused interviewer (peace to Sumit). It leads off with Shaheed alluding to the “secret of our layering aspect” when responding to a question on Tribe’s drums, which he can not fully reveal, possibly out of fear of Q-Tip’s retribution…let me stop. Haha. He then goes on to mention the impact of MC Hood on The Scenario Remix before avoiding a direct question on Q-Tip’s position on the doc and whether or not The Abstract speaks for the entire group. At this point the he said-he said-I said is getting a bit lame so hopefully the headlines don’t get out of hand as the movie gets more coverage. And as Shaheed suggests towards the end, I hope to see the film when it hits New York.

“I think the reason he did his little Twitter thing was because when he realized that the movie was coming to completion and going to get seen by people,” Rapaport said. “I can’t really speak for him but I think he got a little nervous. He’s a very protective of the legacy of A Tribe Called Quest and the movie is a very honest depiction of my time with them and the information that I was given in interviews and content.”

As for the “few requests” Tip said ATCQ made of Rapaport that weren’t acknowledged, the “Higher Learning” actor says Q-Tip wasn’t speaking for the group.

“He was speaking on behalf of himself and his biggest request was to be protective of the legacy of Tribe,” Rapaport said. “So when the film was coming to completion, he got a little bit nervous because he wants to be seen in a certain way.”

And while he’s a loyal ATCQ fan, the director said he wanted to be do the group’s story justice.

“I adore ATCQ and my intention wasn’t to ever make them feel uncomfortable but my intention was never to make a fluff piece so we kind of hit a bump in the road,” he said. “And we promoted [the film together]. Q-Tip and me were on the radio talking about ‘This is going to be the real story of A Tribe Called Quest.’ When I say ‘the real story’ that doesn’t mean that there’s going to be crazy sh–. I didn’t unveil any secrets. From what I’ve learned Q-Tip and Phife have known each other their whole lives and they are like a family. And like any family, like any group — the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, EPMD, Public Enemy — they’ve had bumps in the road. I just think that because A Tribe Called Quest is so precious to fans, they were concerned about unveiling some of those things.”

How I did not hear about this show is beyond me. It actually physically hurts me that I was not able to attend.

I told Q-Tip to play the piano and spend some time with Sir Roland Hanna to see how chords and harmony work. I suggested he learn some simple chord changes like I, IV, V, I that would make the lyrics sound different so that the background would not just be boomp-boomp-shish.

It’s a shame rap guys who were really interested in the music and not just the rap didn’t learn the basic skills to fully bring what they were doing to fruition.”

I used to say that if rappers ever discovered the major triad, I’d give them a dollar – and I still have that same one.

SATV caught up w/ Rapaport at the ’09 Smoke Out. Last movie I saw him in was Special. Why didn’t that blow up?

Rahzel on the beatbox. Courtesy of Lorna’s Corner.

Recoded at Noisemakers with Peter Rosenberg. Only managed to get half the interview but it was definitely a dope event with lots of great stories like the formation of A Tribe Called Quest, the mentor-type relationship Q-Tip had with artists like Mobb Deep and J Dilla and where the sample for Jazz (We’ve Got) came from. Big ups to Peter Rosenberg for putting these events on. link

Download Noisemakers with Peter Rosenberg + Q-Tip

Courtesy of The Meaning Of Dope

Apparently, the homophobic lyrics scared the label so A Tribe Called Quest and Brand Nubian (minus Grand Puba) re-recorded the song with the same beat and new subject matter. And that’s how the track Show Business was born.

Spotted at bang the box by way of it takes a nation of millions to hold this sac.

Download Georgie Porgie by A Tribe Called Quest feat. Brand Nubian

Story goes this version was rejected by their record label Jive Records due to the homophobic lyrics, so they made a new song out of the same beat. Apparently Grand Puba didn’t want to re-do the song with a new topic which is why he’s not on “Show Business”.

I can certainly heard Lord Jamar, and obviously Puba on that tip, but Tribe?

via MissInfo

As he promised in the comments of the last post, Peter Divito from 2020Proof has come through in the clutch and laced me with one of the original takes of ‘Scenario’ featuring the whole Native Tongues crew.

related:
Tracks That You’d Sell A Kidney For

I took this audio from a tape I recorded from Funk Master Flex’s show on Hot 97, a few weeks before “Beats, Rhymes and Life” came out. I remember not liking Consequence’s presence on new Tribe material and now catching him say “get dropped like Fat Lip” in this freestyle makes me like that era ATCQ even less, minus Tip and Phife on Phony Rappers. Peter Rosenberg’s recent post about the reason why he wanted to be there reminded me that Flex had a great show for a long time and now it’s crazy because I see Ford truck billboards with his name on them and he’s the best commercial radio hip hop dj of all time.

Q-Tip, Phife, and Consequence Freestyle – Funkmaster Flex/Hot 97 – July 1996