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Happy Heavenly Birthday To A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg (RIP)! 5 Memorable Phife Verses

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On this day in 1970, the second lyrical half of A Tribe Called Quest, Phife Dawg was born. Born Malik Isaac Taylor in Queens, New York, Phife was one-fourth of one of the most influential groups in Hip-Hop culture; A Tribe Called Quest. It’s been almost nine years since Phife lost his battle with diabetes, however, his music will live on for eternity.

On many of ATCQ’s tracks, fans have always rightfully celebrated Q-Tip’s lyricism, but rarely gave Phife Dawg his proper due. In the posthumous honor of his birthday, we have put together a list of five of his hottest verses to shine a light on the unsung lyrical phenom that is Phife Dawg.

5. “Electric Relaxation” On this standout track from the album Midnight Marauders, Phife and The Abstract went toe to toe, trading off verse without a hook until the song ended, with standout bars like, “Let me hit it from the back, girl I won’t catch a hernia/Bust off on your couch, now you got Seaman’s Furniture..”and let’s not forget, “I like ‘em brown, yellow, Puerto Rican or Haitian/Name is Phife Dawg from the Zulu Nation..”

4. “La Schmoove” This was a featured verse from Phife Dawg on a track by Brooklyn rap tongue twisters Fu Schnickens. On this track, Phife had the third verse, yet opened it like it was his own song saying,

“Now here I go, once again with the ill flow/Other MC’s that rap, their style is so-so..”

3. “Scenario” Being one of the most popular songs on A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory album, Phife Dawg’s opening verse is one that rings in the ears of many rap fans.

“Ayo, Bo knows this, and Bo knows that/ But bo don’t know jack cause Bo can’t rap//Well what do you know, the Di-Dawg, is first up to bat/No batteries included and no strings attached..”

2. “Award Tour” Another cut from Midnight Marauders, Award Tour was a huge success for A Tribe Called Quest. It also houses some of Phife Dawg’s strongest metaphors.
“I have a quest to have a mic in my hand/without that, it’s like Kryptonite and Superman/So Shaheed come in with the sugar cuts//Phife Dawg’s my name, but on stage, call me Dynomut..”

“So, next time that you think you want something here/Make something dope or take that garbage to St.Elsewhere..”

1. “Buggin Out” Coming from their most popular album, this is regarded as Phife’s illest bars. Phife Dawg spits two of the hardest verses on the album on this one record.
“Yo microphone check one, two, what is this?/The five foot assassin with the roughneck business/I float like gravity, never had a cavity/Got more rhymes than the Winans got family..”

“You soar off to another world, deep in your mind/But people seem to take that, as being unkind/’Oh yo he’s acting stank,’ really on the regal?/a man of the fame not a man of the people/believe that if you want but I tell you this much/riding on the train with no dough, sucks..”

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A Tribe Called Quest’s 2024 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Featured A Touching Tribute To Phife Dawg And An All-Star Medley Performance

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A Tribe Called Quest 2024 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony (1024x437)
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In the eyes of music lover, yesterday (October 19), the 2024 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony made good on several past snubs. In the realm of pop, that was Cher finally being welcomed into the pristine club. But for hip-hop that was undoubtedly A Tribe Called Quest’s induction.

Despite being eligible since 2015, the legendary rap group is only just now making into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. However, that didn’t stop two of its members (Q-Tip and Jarobi White) from cheerfully celebrating the milestone.

White dedicated a part of his speech (viewable here) to honor Phife Dawg who tragically died in 2016. “I don’t I don’t have any stories,” he said. “All I have is gratitude. What I’m saying thank you. Thank you. Tribe fans everywhere, we wouldn’t be nothing without you. Ali Shaheed, I love you, boy. Wish you was here. Let me give it up right quick. Give it up for Phife’s mom and dad right here.”

Late member Phife Dawg’s parents looked on in pride as the crowd and musicians paid their respects. In his place, the sister of Ali Shaheed Muhammad (who was not in attendance) stood in for the honor.

Q-Tip took a moment to subtly acknowledge why A Tribe Called Quest’s induction was so deserved. “To the latter, it has been the terrain for many of us to do Whoppers and Hip-Hoppers, and yes, to all of you pseudo-historians who might be confused about the corner opera in the corner hip hop is saying and rap the blues,” he said. “And what’s more rock and roll than the blues? But just like our predecessors, we had to find spaces on the outskirts of cities and towns, from a southern sun house off Robert Johnson Crossroads to a transformed room in a hood tenement on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. The need to express burns in us with an art-fueled determination. A spark. The spark that embers within many of us in this room, and the spark that burned within the four of us boys in 1985 in New York City.”

While A Tribe Called Quest’s honoree performance (viewable here) featured an all-star lineup of Queen Latifah (“Can I Kick It?”), De La Soul’s Pos and The Roots’ Black Thought (“Check the Rime”), Common (“Bonita Applebum”), and Busta Rhymes (“Scenario”) which was all backed by The Roots.

The 2024 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame streamed live on Disney+, but a special featuring the evening’s performances will air on ABC on Jan. 1. Then it will be available for viewing on Hulu. Find more information here.

Happy Birthday To ATCQ’s Phife Dawg (RIP)! Top 5 Phife Verses

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Phife Dawg

On this day in 1970, the second lyrical half of A Tribe Called Quest, Phife Dawg was born. Born Malik Isaac Taylor in Queens, New York, Phife was one-fourth of one of the most influential groups in Hip-Hop culture; A Tribe Called Quest. It’s been almost four years since Phife lost his battle with diabetes, however, his music will live on for eternity.

On many of ATCQ’s tracks, fans have always rightfully celebrated Q-Tip’s lyricism, but rarely gave Phife Dawg his proper due. In the posthumous honor of his birthday, we have put together a list of his top five hottest verses to shine a light on the unsung lyrical phenom that is Phife Dawg.

5. “Electric Relaxation” On this standout track from the album Midnight Marauders, Phife and The Abstract went toe to toe, trading off verse without a hook until the song ended, with standout bars like, “Let me hit it from the back, girl I won’t catch a hernia/Bust off on your couch, now you got Seaman’s Furniture..”and let’s not forget, “I like ‘em brown, yellow, Puerto Rican or Haitian/Name is Phife Dawg from the Zulu Nation..”

4. “La Schmoove” This was a featured verse from Phife Dawg on a track by Brooklyn rap tongue twisters Fu Schnickens. On this track, Phife had the third verse, yet opened it like it was his own song saying,

“Now here I go, once again with the ill flow/Other MC’s that rap, their style is so-so..”

3. “Scenario” Being one of the most popular songs on A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory album, Phife Dawg’s opening verse is one that rings in the ears of many rap fans.

“Ayo, Bo knows this, and Bo knows that/ But bo don’t know jack cause Bo can’t rap//Well what do you know, the Di-Dawg, is first up to bat/No batteries included and no strings attached.”

2. “Award Tour” Another cut from Midnight Marauders, Award Tour was a huge success for A Tribe Called Quest. It also houses some of Phife Dawg’s strongest metaphors.
“I have a quest to have a mic in my hand/without that, it’s like Kryptonite and Superman/So Shaheed come in with the sugar cuts//Phife Dawg’s my name, but on stage, call me Dynomut..t”

“So, next time that you think you want something here/Make something dope or take that garbage to St.Elsewhere..”

1. “Buggin Out” Coming from their most popular album, this is regarded as Phife’s illest bars. Phife Dawg spits two of the hardest verses on the album on this one record.
“Yo microphone check one, two, what is this?/The five foot assassin with the roughneck business/I float like gravity, never had a cavity/Got more rhymes than the Winans got family..”

“You soar off to another world, deep in your mind/But people seem to take that, as being unkind/’Oh yo he’s acting stank,’ really on the regal?/a man of the fame not a man of the people/believe that if you want but I tell you this much/riding on the train with no dough, sucks..”

The post Happy Birthday To ATCQ’s Phife Dawg (RIP)! Top 5 Phife Verses first appeared on The Source.

The post Happy Birthday To ATCQ’s Phife Dawg (RIP)! Top 5 Phife Verses appeared first on The Source.

Today in Hip-Hop History: A Tribe Called Quest Dropped Their Sophomore LP ‘Low End Theory’ 31 Years Ago

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On this date in 1991, Queens emcees Q-Tip, and the late Phife Dawg, along with their DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad, formally known as A Tribe Called Quest, released the group’s second full-length studio album Low End Theory.

The sophomore jinx did not come into play with this project from Tribe, with both Tip and Phife’s rhyme quality better than anything heard from them before. With the Abstract quarterbacking most of the production on the project, with the co-production assistance from Mr. Muhammad and Skeff Amslem, the result is a creative masterpiece. It must also be mentioned that the real-life issues were affecting the group. Phife announced he had diabetes, to firing the World Famous DJ Red Alert as the group’s manager proved that the Tribe was ready for the next level of their career.

As for the album’s highlights, Low End Theory is one of the genre’s conceptual albums that cannot be understood unless listened to in its entirety. From the album’s beginning on “Excursions,” which would cause the average Tribe fan to anticipate the sound of a People’s Instinctive Travels Part 2 until you hear the bass line come in for “Buggin’ Out,” which was possibly the best lyrical showing by Phife on all of ATCQ’s albums. While songs like “Rap Promoter” and “Show Business” talk about the uncertainty of the Hip-Hop industry, tracks like “The Infamous Date Rape” and “Everything Is Fair” talk about social issues that plague urban communities.

Supreme salute to the Tribe, rest in peace to Phife and the Jive Records squad for helping to bring the people such an essential piece of Hip-Hop history 31 years ago.

The post Today in Hip-Hop History: A Tribe Called Quest Dropped Their Sophomore LP ‘Low End Theory’ 31 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

Phife Dawg’s Estate Releases The Rapper’s Posthumous Album, ‘Forever’

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Phife Dawg 2008 Rock The Bells
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Phife Dawg‘s long-anticipated posthumous album has finally arrived today. Forever comes on the sixth anniversary of the A Tribe Called Quest rapper’s death.

Forever is Phife Dawg’s second solo album, following 2000’s Ventilation: Da LP. Phife appeared A Tribe Called Quest’s 2016 reunion album We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, which was released just months after his death. Phife was said to be working on solo music up until that time.

“We faced a lot of ups and downs trying to get the album completed, and only by God’s grace and patience were we able to,” said Phife’s longtime manager Dion Liverpool in a statement. “I would like to thank his fans for being patient and understanding that nothing that is good and timeless will happen overnight. I took on the responsibility to help the family complete Forever and honored that I was trusted to do so.”

Forever features production by DJ Rasta Root, who co-produced the album alongside Phife, along with the likes of J Dilla, 9th Wonda, Potatohead People, and more. The album boasts several collaborations, including tracks with fellow Tribe member Q-Tip, Redman, Dwele, Busta Rhymes, and Rapsody.

Check out Forever below.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5LgEGVdC1X8xgrNa09MS6f?si=4bbRdG8CSoq7QVKBFaPb-A

Forever is out now via Smokin’ Needles.

Phife Dawg’s Estate Reveals The Tracklist For His Posthumous Album, ‘Forever’

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It feels a little unbelievable, but just one week from today will mark the sixth anniversary of Phife Dawg’s death. It’s a sobering sentiment, but the load is lightened by an announcement by the late rapper’s estate last year: March 22 will also mark the release of his long-awaited posthumous album, Forever. Today, his co-producer on the album, DJ Rasta Root, shared the album’s cover art and tracklist, which features a who’s-who of longtime collaborators and friends, including Angel Winbush, De La Soul, Dwele, Little Brother, Lyric Jones, Rapsody, and, of course, his A Tribe Called Quest brother in rhyme, Q-Tip.

Production on the album will be handled by 9th Wonder, J Dilla, Khrysis, Nottz, Potatohead People, and more. So far, only two singles from the album have been released: the Busta Rhymes and Redman-featuring “Nutshell Part 2” and “French Kiss Deux,” which features the late J Dilla’s younger brother Illa J. Both revealed an aesthetic similar to latter-day Tribe production, with stripped-down, funk-driven beats custom-made to show off Phife’s easygoing flow.

The road to the album’s release has been kind of a bumpy one; though initially announced almost five years ago, it has certainly taken a while to prepare, with the album getting pushed back to 2021, then pushed back again to 2022. But, the wait is almost over now, and from the looks of things, the project will be well worth it.

Forever is due 3/22 via Smokin’ Needles Records.