Yesterday was the 17 year anniversary of A Tribe Called Quest's 3rd Album "Midnight Marauders. The album was such a transforming and influential release for hip hop that even Milwaukee's KingHellBastard made a mixtape tribute to the record.
A Tribe Called Quest is one of those essential bands that anyone who is into music must own at least one of their albums. Their music got me through my college years at Howard University in Washington DC. Their amazing use of jazz samples set their sound apart from anyone before them and after them. The chemistry between Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad was something unique and special and could never be duplicated. Their 20 year music career is simply amazing that actor Michael Rappaport, best known for his break-out role in Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing", took on the task of directing a documentary about Tribe called "Beats, Rhyme and Life." The title was taken from A Tribe Called Quest's 4th studio album. Rappaport spend over 2 year working on this documentary.
The story is told by the members themselves as they reunite after two years during the 2008 Rock the Bells tour to deliver sold out performances . On the tour they re-discover that their own personal differences may overpower their love for the group, countless, hard-core fans, and its ability to survive the pressures of fame, the record industry, and simply pursuing other interests in life.
The documentary features interviews from Questlove of The Roots, Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Pharrell and others. The film score will even be composed by Madlib and Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf will supervise all the music for the film. Rappaport will debut the documentary at Sundance Festival in 2011. I would love to see this film in the next Milwaukee Film Festival!