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

I love ATCQ and we do get very exciting looks at the birth of hip hop as a creative force of nature. And the iconoclasts, in their attitude, how they dressed, the topics they addressed in their lyrics. We also have the painful moments of the more toxic by the day band dynamics that lead to the breakup until they get back together to release a brilliant swan song album in 2016.

I don't think the rift between the two band members is completely made clear in the documentary except it's about one of them feeling disrespected and egos and I think there was more there to unearth by a more skilled film maker. But Rapaport made this film with love.

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.

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!

I never really thought about the name of the group, but of course if you do a documentary and have such a weird band name, that will be one of the things explored. While this was to be expected, seeing so many high profile musicians giving their insight on how Quest affected them or the music landscape overall, is quite interesting to say the least.

And all that by one of the whitest Dudes/actors on this planet. Michael Rappaport created this and he really did good. I would think through the friends he has, he had quite the connections to other artists. Nicely edited, with a coherent line to follow for anyone watching. This could have been an episode of the Netflix show that explores Hip Hop, but let's just see this as an added extra

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.