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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*- unless otherwise credited)
Damn! 2016 has been one sucky year. So far, we’ve lost-
…and now Malik Taylor, aka the one and only Phife Dawg, of a band I love like few others- A Tribe Called Quest, who passed, today, at the tragically young age of 45, due to complications from the diabetes he’s had since 1990. The 4 of these lost Artists equal a sizable part of my musical listening life. As for Phife, who immortalized himself in one line-
“When was the last time you heard a funky diabetic?”#
Answer- Never. He speaks best for himself.
“Yo, microphone check one two what is this
The five foot assassin with the ruffneck business
I float like gravity, never had a cavity
Got more rhymes than the Winans got family
No need to sweat Arsenio to gain some type of fame
No shame in my game cause I’ll always be the same
Styles upon styles upon styles is what I have
You want to diss the Phifer but you still don’t know the half
I sport New Balance sneakers to avoid a narrow path
Messing round with this you catch the sizing of em?
I never half step cause I’m not a half stepper
Drink a lot of soda so they call me Dr. Pepper
Refuse to compete with BS competition
Your name ain’t Special Ed so won’t you Seckle With the Mission
I never walk the streets, think it’s all about me
Even though deep in my heart, it really could be
I just try my best to like go all out
Some might even say yo shorty black you’re buggin’ out”*
I saw A Tribe Called Quest 4 indelible times in the 90’s, including once on New Year’s Eve at the Palladium, as I mentioned earlier, and one time when I drove all the way to Asbury Park, NJ with a friend who had never heard of them, to see them in a bar/small club. We stood up on the top of the booths along the wall to try and see them, the place was so packed. Seeing them in such a small room (it was closer to a bar than a club, size-wise. A small bar.) was a completely different thing than seeing them in a show at the large halls they would play thereafter.
Can I Kick It? (L-R)Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Q-Tip & Phife Dawg. On Point. All The Time. The Source, Sept, 1996. From my collection.
For most, Tribe defines what’s called “Old School” today. I hate labels, as I’ve said. For me, Tribe represented, and will always represent good music.Their music that has stood up for the test of 25 years, and counting, so far. Well, you can stop counting. It’s here to stay. They’ve never left my iPod/iPhone and are still among the most played when I look at my song count totals, even after all these years. Why? In spite of some dated references here and there (“Mr. Dinkins will you please be my Mayor?”Classic!), it’s GOOD MUSIC, and it’s as fresh as anything happening right now. Tribe was many things to many people, and still are (including a big influence to quite a few, like him.). I loved how Tribe melded jazz elements, (including the great Ron Carter on bass on “Verses From The Abstract”) into the mix, and so were a big part of the continuum of the music that goes back to the bebop era jazz Q-Tip raps about his dad listening to.
“My pops used to say, it reminded him of be-bop
I said, well daddy don’t you know that things go in cycles”+
Thay had the jazz, to paraphrase a title.
“We bounce off each other like Yin & Yang, nice and smooth, you know?” Phife said last year. Great groups have a chemistry I’ve never been able to define. From some unknown magazine, circa 2000, after “the Love Movement” came out. From my collection.
In “The Source” article, above, Phife says, he doesn’t think they’ll ever break up(p. 110), but, sadly, that didn’t come to pass, and they did after “The Love Movement,” in 1998. A must see documentary, “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest” came out in 2011 and ever since I lived in hope they’d reunite to record and tour, especially since Q-Tip has continued to grow as an Artist with his terrific solo albums, along with Phife’s own excellent solo album, “Ventilation, Da LP,” in 2000. There was so much individual growth, the next Tribe album HAD to be another classic and put them right back on top. Alas, the only time I got to see or hear of them since was what turned out to be their final performance, on “The Tonite Show” last November.
And now, like The Beatles and The Smiths, that dream is over.
“You on point Phife?
All the time, Tip”@
What I love most about Phife is that he had the gift of bringing you into his life and let you walk around in it. His style sounded so fresh it was impossible to tell if he had written it or if he was freestyling as you listened to him. While Chuck D saw the big picture, and Tip brought that timeless “Miles Davis-NYC Cool” to Hip Hop, Phife was holding it down in ways the rest of us could relate to.
“When this kid tried to tell me I didn’t deserve my occupation
He said I wasn’t shit that I was soon to fall
I looked him up and down, grab my crotch and said balls
Of course he tried to bring it on the battling tip
Ay, you know me, you know I had to come out my shit
Trying to lounge at the mall, meet Skef and Mr Walton
Finally I banged his ass wit the verbal assault
He said a rhyme about his .45 and his nickelbags of weed
That’s when I preceeded to give him what he needed
Talking ’bout I need a Phillie right before I get loose
Poor excuse, money please, I get loose off of orange juice
Preferly Minute Maid cuz that’s exactly what it takes
To write a rhyme, huh, to school your nickels and your dimes
Because an MC like me be on TV
Don’t mean I can’t hold my shit down in NYC”%
Peace out, Phife.
Soundtracks for this Post are- *- “Buggin’ Out” +- “Excursions,” #-“Oh My God,” @- “Check The Rhime” and %-“Phony Rappers” by Ali Shaheed Jones-Muhammad, Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, & Malik Izaak Taylor, immortalized on record by A Tribe Called Quest.
Phife, on point, from 1;49-
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