In the beginning of the 19990’s there was an invasion of lyrically conscious groups that swarmed the airwaves. We had just come out of a battling phase in Hip-Hop based on which borough was the most thorough. KRS One along with his Boogie Down Production squad took it to the then QB’s finest MC Shan and Marley Marl of the world famous Juice Crew. The battle lit a fire in hip hop that was reminiscent of it’s heyday when artists like Busy Bee were crushed by Harlem’s own Kool Moe Dee. The battle was alive and healthy in Hip-Hop, just as it is today.

Even though we had seen some horrific displays of MC’s get eaten alive by their competition, we as a generation would have never believed what was coming next.

A new invasion was about to happen and it was being spearheaded by such artists as The Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, De La Soul, Leaders of the New School and of course A Tribe Called Quest. Now for you young’ns who barely remember this era, I’ll give you a quick recap. There was and still is a DJ by the name of Red Alert who had been playing promos for a new group from Queens for months. The group consisted of four members, Q-Tip, Phife, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi, soon to be known to the world as A Tribe Called Quest. When Tribe finally dropped the invasion of the collective unit known as the Native Tongues were born and Hip-Hop endured a change.
Gone were the big gold chains and medallions that we had grown to love within our art and the public was faced with African Medallion, Malcolm X hats and Dreadlocked wearing teenage revolutionaries that were standing up and being accounted for. At the head of the movement stood the Tribe. As their music bogarted the airwaves Q-Tip was the nasal toned pretty boy of the group and Phife the 5 footer was his sports jersey and matching hat wearing sidekick who spewed out conscious lyrics with a nice smooth sexual undertone for the ladies. The Tribe had been born and Hip-Hop would never be the same again.

After reigning as one of Hip Hop’s premier super groups and releasing a slew of hit albums including Midnight Marauders which is still a classic, the Tribe disbanded. Q-Tip did his solo thing and now it’s time for the man who basically started the throwback fad to do his.

Phife is set to release his solo debut Songs in the Key of Phife. It is a collage of music and as Phife says, “It takes us back to the essence of Hip Hop without being old school. We need to cherish and honor our class. What I don’t understand is why motherfuckers just do shit to do it. I’m trying to put the passion back into it. Niggas need to stop biting and be original. Like with the throwback shit, I pretty much started that shit but back then we had originality like EPMD, Nice and Smooth, Gangstarr and the Juice Crew. Nowadays the labels and radio stations are always looking for the next Red and Meth. We should move forward on some new shit. If a cat is original they’ll get adoration.” Continued on page 2 »