Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

If you haven't heard of A Tribe Called Quest where the heck have you been for the last twenty years arguably one of the most respected and commercially successful groups in hip hop's rich history the band were composed of Q-Tip (Kamaal Ibn John Fareed), Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor), DJ Producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White. The group have been widely lauded as the saviours of hip hop along with the other members of the Native Tongues Posse which comprised of a group of like minded individuals who talked, walked and rhymed with the same attitude. Quests was the most commercially successful group from this self proclaimed troupe and have influenced many of hip hop's most prevalent artists of today which include Kanye West & Common. The tale of their meteoric rise to the forefront of hip hop had never chronicled until actor, director and self confessed fan Michael Rapaport picked up a camera and filmed the group's headlining of the Rock the Bells concerts across America in 2008. It's the footage behind the scenes however and the account of the group's inception that gives an insight into the groups break up in 1998.

This movie is a testament to a group that changed the parameters of hip hop for a whole generation, not concerned with the gangster rap of the period a Tribe Called Quest like their Native Tongues associates were more interested in the eclectic music and intellectual styled lyrics. The movie has interviews with some of the other members of the Native Tongues movement and many other notable hip hop artists including the Beastie Boys and Common who give credence to the music that Tribe produced. The camera gives an unnerving and sometimes brutally honest look into the lives of the young men from New York who made up the group.

The last true American art from after jazz, hip hop with its turntables as instruments is an analogy for America its mesh of cultures and beliefs, creeds and colours which brought about a collective superiority unrivalled in any other music form. I cannot speak with enough enthusiasm about how great this movie is as a documentation of a nostalgic time within hip hop when it was still new, fresh and effervescent. A time when four guys from the New York boroughs came together and created something truly amazing that has, and most likely will stand the test of time. Bittersweet in many parts but filled with a vibrant energy that encompassed everything that was and remains still true to the tribe and everything they stood for.....real innovative, engaging and thought provocative hip hop that defined a generation and spurned a new talented group of hip hop artists and producers that occupy the mainstream today.

I cannot speak with enough enthusiasm about how great this movie is as a documentation of the story behind the genius that was a Tribe Called Quest and Rapaport has excellently captured the lives and troubles of real people fraught with human frailties and insecurities like you and me. There is so much drama here that all is needed at times is for Rapaport to simply point the camera and shoot and like a confessional the group members and the people in their lives outpour their feelings. This thereby humanises their tale so that it resonates with every single one of us. Some of the groups most profound thoughts and feelings are captured for the first time which makes this movie simply riveting from start to finish and with the foot tapping soundtrack from the group's back catalogue the movie is like a chronicle of not just the groups fantastic rise but also a generation crying out for music of worth. One of the most memorable lines of the movie comes from Phife Dawg who states "the way hip hop is going right now I could do with it or without it" this sentiment is echoed as the story unfolds and we reminisce on a time when we were growing up and life was simpler than it is right now. Perhaps that is its appeal it has something for us all and in its most ardent revelations it almost shakes the foundations of hip hop. If I haven't suitably summed up the need for you to see this movie then perhaps my highest rating yet will encourage you 4 ½ out of 5 this movie is a must see, not just for lovers of A Tribe Called Quest & hip hop......but for anyone concerned with the inner machinations of a musical groups highs and lows. Beats, Rhymes and Life is due a release later in the year and when it gets a date I'll be the first to give you the heads up.

A Tribe Called Quest is one the most enduring groups of hip hop's Golden Age. Combining jazzy loops with hard-hitting snares and fronted by two unique MCs/ personalities in Q-Tip and Phife Dawg, they banged out three classic albums in the early 90s. They were intelligent, innovative and had great chemistry. I can still vividly remember the news that they broke up: it confirmed the end of rap's heyday, not unlike The Beatles' break-up effectively ended the feel good 60s.

So yes, they deserved a 90-minute documentary. And "Beats, Rhymes and Life" delivers at this most basic level, telling us about the Tribe's travels in a very straightforward manner, which is good for (casual) fans. Michael Rapaport hits the right notes here: he cuts between classic songs, classic clips and solid - sometimes funny - anecdotes by the Jungle Brothers, Black Thought, Prince Paul, Jarobi, Dres, Common, De La Soul, Red Alert and Chris Lighty, to name a few. Q-Tip gets the most airtime, and the man has charisma to spare.

However, the story arc also aims to please non-fans and revolves around the break-up. It focuses heavily on the tensions within the group - especially between erstwhile best friends Q-Tip and Phife - and the drama that surrounds it until today. This setup helps avoid the dreaded "old men reminiscing about the good old days" effect found in many documentaries, but it still left me wondering: is this really the essence of the Tribe? We all know the group process can drive people crazy - we've seen it in a million rockumentaries. Meanwhile, the protagonists barely get to talk about the things that made them special: their creative vision, the development of their monumental sound, the risks they took.

Still, recommended for everybody, especially fans of Seaman's furniture. The music will win you over - Madlib's original soundtrack also rocks!

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Three Hip-Hop groups defined the way I interfaced with Hip-Hop as a kid: The Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Their music was the soundtrack of my youth: beats and rhymes with a positive, life-affirming vibe. To me, these groups were giants living amidst point guards; years later, when I interviewed a number of them for my Hip-Hop documentary 5 Sides of a Coin, I felt like I'd grown up, being allowed to stand face-to-face with many of my childhood idols.

I still love Hip-Hop, but nostalgia has a way of tempering things. It's been nearly 20 years since I've had an epiphanic Hip-Hop moment; the last one I remember was hearing 36 Chambers or Illmatic for the first time. Don't get me wrong, I still bump my head to a lot of what's out there...it just doesn't move me the same way it used to.

A few weeks back I watched Michael Rapaport's Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest and I was instantly reminded of Hip-Hop's significance in my life. Rapaport's film isn't shot on the best cameras or filmed by the most competent operators, but it really doesn't matter. This film was made by a Tribe fan for Tribe fans and whether it succeeds as therapy or mediation between Tip and Phife is irrelevant. If --somehow-- this doc has anything to do with ATCQ fulfilling their contractual obligation to produce one more album, then it's a monumental success; if not, it's still a great way for die-hard Tribe fans to reconnect with one of Hip-Hop's greatest groups.

I'm troubled that some reviewers object to the fact that this film doesn't ignore the considerable tensions that existed within A Tribe Called Quest.

This is a documentary, not a propaganda film... the backstage dynamics between the members of ATCQ over the years (both positive and negative) are highly relevant to the film, assuming that it wasn't meant as a puff piece.

If anything, Rapaport held back a bit MORE than he should have, which is part of the reason why I don't give the film an even higher rating, as I would (for example) to the brutally revealing documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.

Also, anyone who watches the film and doesn't get some sense of why the group meant so much to so many of us (in its artistry and in its spirit) just wasn't paying attention.

I do hope that the DVD extras spend more time on the extended Native Tongue Family... while it certainly isn't ignored in the film, the Native Tongue Family deserves at the very least its own mini- documentary.

If you grew up with rap and were a fan when Tribe was in their prime, you absolutely will not want to miss this. Michael Rapaport and crew brilliantly document this most ubiquitous, inventive and also accessible group of it's generation. I had to hold back the tears as I revisited those special times of my youth. Being a rap fan and beat maker since the 80's, I now know who was the man behind the productions of their first three legendary(understatement) albums, as the credits on their records always attributed production to the Tribe itself and not one person(that person is Q-Tip). Not that Ali is not also an incredible musician and producer in his own right as evidenced in his post-Tribe super group Lucy Pearl and other production works. As for Phife, you'll just have to see his remarkable story for yourself...

Speaking of Ali, one thing that really stayed with me, his statement about the spiritual and creative benefit of moving on, trying something new, not forgetting the past but working towards the future. In fact, this motto has been employed by all members of the Tribe beginning with Jarobi, who early in the 90's when the Tribe was on the rise decided to leave the group(albeit with an open door policy) to pursue another passion of his that has rewarded him success and happiness.

Many times our most celebrated creative heroes end up on a downward self destructive path and fall from grace, or they refuse to leave behind their formulas and habits at a detriment to their growth and their health, but these guys are champions in life, they are all leading rewarding lives doing some unexpected things, yet still make time to go on tour together. The time during which rap music was truly GREAT was short lived, maybe just a couple years....and it flashed past in the blink of an eye. This documentary will take you there, so much so you won't want to come back!

BTW I really, really, REALLY hope this isn't the last of Michael Rapaport's documentaries on Hip-Hop, clearly he is the man for the job.