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.”

Phife is so right about the originality that it can be sickening to see so much of the same stuff saturating the airwaves. Along with his new album Phife has been living on the road doing shows as well as investing in real estate. As he puts it, “There is nothing better than getting money for doing practically nothing so me a and my moms got into the real estate thing and it’s profitable.” Phife also owns “Kennel Club Music Group” an umbrella company, which is a subsidiary of Jive, which plans to release artists within the Hip-Hop heavy Metal and Country Genre’s of music. The Silver Tone imprint, which also comes under the umbrella, will release Heavy Metal and Country. Then there is the Smoking Needles company which houses The Rhythym Kids Fraternity production team.

Along with all of this, there is a possible Tribe reunion. Phife states, “We owe Jive records one more album on our contract so it’s gonna happen, I just can’t say when. Jarobi and I live in Atlanta and Tip and Shaheed live in Jersey so it’s kinda complicated but it will happen.”

Phife is also in the process of getting an acting coach to pursue an acting career and he also has his hands filled by trying to find out as much as he can about the sports agency field. “I’m a perfectionist you know I want to learn things so I pick my friends’ brains and learn as much as I can but I really want to do the sports agency thing.

So at the end of the day who does Phife listen to too keep him motivated musically and how does he want to he remembered? “Well the music game is like March madness,” Says Phife. “When you see a young cat trying to get to the next level there’s only a select few who you can tell wanna win. I wanna win. I respect artists like Eminem he puts his soul into it. I like Nas, I’m listening to Tweet, Nerd and the Clipse right now but there’s so much out there. You know my spirit is cool, it could be better, but I try to count my blessings. I just wanna be known as that cat that put his heart, mind and soul into everything that he did but he made it known that he wouldn’t die for Hip-Hop and I always gave my all.”