Beats, Rhymes & Life

The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

Directed by Michael Rapaport
Sony Pictures Classics

If Michael Rapaport’s new documentary, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, had only a mixed bag of music videos paired with footage of Q-Tip crate digging and Phife talking basketball for an hour and a half, many would stay through the end credits satisfied in blissful ignorance. What Rapaport presents in fact is a more controversial film that looks at the collaborative struggles of the music legends, A Tribe Called Quest, during their much demanded reunion.

Firstly, let’s catch up to speed. Beats, Rhymes & Life does a lot right. Mainly by presenting the first major music documentary on an entire hip hop group. For clarity, A Tribe Called Quest began as a small crew of friends who coined themselves “QUEST” early on and consisted of members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali, and Jarobi. They met fellow classmates and hip hop heads The Jungle Brothers and through them befriended De La Soul. The influence these three groups had on each other created a biosphere of positivity, camaraderie and love. Along with a handful of other acts, the three groups formed the Native Tongues collective.

This crew continued the afrocentric tradition of Afrika Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation while focusing on a party atmosphere that fit nicely against the backdrop of Keith Haring’s New York. The collaboration of ideas inside Native Tongues brought A Tribe Called Quest to a state of inspired musicality. They began to incorporate reflective, intelligent lyricism with an array of inventive beats and samples revived from dusty jazz records.

Whenever the coming saviors of hip hop emerge and stand against the corporate current dominating so many of today’s car stereos, believe they’ll cite the legacy of Native Tongues, or more likely “Tribe and them”, as an influence from their youth. No matter where or when those future rhyme sayers and beat makers will rise up, the youthful expression and aspiration of spirit shown in People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory, and Midnight Marauders will be passed down to them if they’re at all destined for greatness. And if your plans include raising up a little hip hop savior of your own, you need only drop the needle at the edge of Low End Theory and let nature run its course. “Excursions” will have any small poet saying “I wanna do that!” in smiling awe to a hard buzzing bass sample and some of the most powerful verses to be released upon a mic.

A Tribe Called Quest – Jazz (We’ve Got) & Buggin’ Out

Returning to Beats, Rhymes & Life, you’ll notice the production is pieced together with the help of a few artists considered masters of their respective fields. James Blagden, who created the award-deserving short Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No, animates the pupil widening opening credits. Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf supervises the soundtrack, while Madlib contributes original music that stays true to the subjects at hand. Mos Def, Pharrell, The Roots and Common lend their time to talk up Tribe in interviews as do The Beastie Boys, The Jungle Brothers and Prince Paul. Their stories recreate an era when hip hop began exploring avenues outside of battle rap.

The documentary’s overall goal is beyond name drops and storytelling. Its purpose is to step outside the Behind The Music mentality by painting a rare portrait of brotherhood colliding with ego. Q-Tip himself says the hardest part of being in a group is considering others before yourself, and that’s a central theme in Tribe’s story. The internal drama that takes place on the screen and behind the scenes of the groups 2008 reunion tour presents much to be discussed, and Rapaport spends a heavy amount of the film’s energy on this subject. At times, though, it seems that Tribe hands the fodder to Rapaport in heaps when the stakes get high.

A lot can be said about this documentary, and that’s why I’d like to suggest you not see it alone. The love atmosphere of Tribe is always pulsing through the screen and Rapaport ultimately portrays the group in a way that will carry the attention of newcomers and die hards through the documentary’s entirety. Catch Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest with anyone you can and plan on sticking around afterward, there’s Tribe to talk about. – Nick Bernal

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest is now playing in theaters nationwide. Check out all the dates HERE.

www.sonyclassics.com/beatsrhymesandlife