A Tribe Called Quest is an
American hip-hop group, formed in 1988. The group is composed of rapper/producer
Q-Tip (Kamal Fareed), rapper
Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor), and DJ/producer
Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper
Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but appears to have rejoined the group since 2006. Along with
De La Soul, the group was a central part of the
Native Tongues Posse, and enjoyed the most commercial success out of all the groups to emerge from that collective. Their innovative fusing of hip hop and jazz has had a lasting impact on hip hop music, helping to expand the art of hip hop production. Many of their songs, such as "
Bonita Applebum", "
Can I Kick It?", "
I Left My Wallet in El Segundo", "
Scenario", "
Check the Rhime", "
Award Tour", and "
Electric Relaxation" are regarded as classics of the genre.
They released five albums in ten years, the first three of which were very highly acclaimed, and disbanded in 1998. In 2006, the group reunited and toured the
US and plan to release an album after some works in the studio. The group is regarded as iconic pioneers of
alternative hip hop music
[A Tribe Called Quest: Biography : Rolling Stone], having helped to pave the way for socially aware hip-hop artists.
Allmusic calls them "the most intelligent, artistic rap group during the 1990s".
[allmusic ((( A Tribe Called Quest > Biography )))] In 2005, A Tribe Called Quest received a Special Achievement Award at the
Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta.
[Billboard Honors Khan, A Tribe Called Quest] In 2007, the group was formally honored at the
4th VH1 Hip Hop Honors.
Biography
History
Q-Tip and Phife were childhood friends and had grown up together in
St. Albans, Queens. The pair first met Muhammad in Murray Bergtraum High School. Initially, Q-Tip had been performing as a solo artist (MC Love Child), occasionally teaming up with Muhammad as a rapper/DJ duo. Although the pair frequently made demos with Phife (as Crush Connection), the sports enthusiast was still courting ambitions of playing professional
basketball, and remained somewhat reluctant to become a full member of the group, only later relenting after Jarobi also joined, thus making the group a quartet. The group's final name was coined in 1988 by the
Jungle Brothers, who attended the same high school as Tribe
[allmusic ((( A Tribe Called Quest > Biography )))]. Q-Tip made two separate appearances on the Jungle Brothers' classic debut album,
Straight Out the Jungle; the songs "Black Is Black" and "In Time", respectively. Afrika Baby Bam of the group introduced Q-Tip to
De La Soul when he took the aspiring artist along to a studio session for the recording of the remix for the group's song "
Buddy". Produced by Prince Paul, the remix of "Buddy" was to be an all-round
Native Tongue affair, and the eccentric producer encouraged Q-Tip to contribute to the now-classic record.
