hotevents
“We all expected a short set from Phife, but alongside his DJ and hype man, he gave us a full-on show. Kicking off with a medley of hits off Tribe’s albums, from its debut to its last, Phife ably held the crowd in his hands.”
Beats, Rhymes & Life’ a tribute to A Tribe Called Quest: my favourite hip-hop group of all time.
Hollywood actor and fellow Tribe fiend Michael Rapaport’s debut documentary ‘Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest’ had its official premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 21 January. Rapaport followed the group over a period of time on and off tour, documenting its members’ relationships, which were unquestionably at a tense phase, between Q-Tip and Phife in particular. Its screening seemed especially poignant as Phife, the only member in attendance, broke down in reaction to the love shown by the audience.
Sadly, I couldn’t be there myself as that same night I was partying it up with Team Hotminute in Brixton’s Plan B, at ‘On the Real’ with The Doctor’s Orders and special guests, including none other than Tribe’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad. I loved his set, but part of me wanted to be in Utah watching the film.
Long afterwards, Soundcrash and The Doctor’s Orders announced that there was finally going to be a November screening at Koko in Camden, followed
by a performance from Phife himself. It all seemed too good to be true, but I got my tickets and waited with baited breath.
On the day, exactly 10 months after the US premiere, there were queues around the block at Koko, with everyone trying to find a good spot for the screening. My one gripe about the otherwise beautiful venue? There were no seats for the 90-minute screening! Standing room only premiere? Not hot.
The film itself was fascinating, with great interviews not just with Ali Shaheed, Jarobi, Phife and Q-Tip, but also from Tribe’s hip-hop peers, including De La Soul, offering an insight into the history of the group and their music, as well as their relationships with each other.
Right after the screening, Phife was introduced on stage for a Q&A. He told us then that “at the end of the day, it’s all love”, stressing that the relationship between him and Q-Tip “is fine”.
Then came the live performance. We all expected a short set from Phife, but alongside his DJ and hype man, he gave us a full-on show. Kicking off with a medley of hits off Tribe’s albums, from its
debut to its last, Phife ably held the crowd in his hands.
He paid tribute to the late, great Heavy D, then went on to perform another 13 tracks, almost all exclusively from the seminal group. Highlights were the crowd swaying to ‘Bonita Applebum’ and then wildin’ out to ‘Scenario’.
As Phife, who had turned 41 the day before, was thanking his fans after a performance of ‘Award Tour’, the 1,500- strong crowd sang him happy birthday. It was a lovely end to a great event.
Phife’s next solo album, ‘Cheryl’s Big Son: The Anomaly’, is out in 2012, with the first single ‘Sole Men’ featuring Faith Evans. ‘Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest’ is available on DVD from
www.amazon.co.uk.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/ beatsrhymesandlife/
Words: Rachel S Above Image: Paul Hampartsoumian
hotminute mag 7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28