preload
Dec 02

Actor Michael Rapaport has been working on a documentary about legendary hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest for years — and now a new trailer offers a tantalizing look at what’s in store. The film, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest , features extensive interviews with members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi, and details the quartet’s pioneering career during the 1990s, the issues that initially split them up (and flared up again during a recent reunion tour) and Phife’s ongoing diabetes-related health problems.

(The group’s fractious relations are referenced in an apparently joking title shown at the end of the trailer: Beats, Rhymes & Fights.)

The doc features appearances from Kanye West, Nas, Mos Def, the Roots and many others who testify to the group’s resounding influence, which includes humorous lyrics, previously unplumbed jazz samples, a mellow swagger and, as the Roots’ ?uestlove puts it, the fact that the group “managed to rewrite the song structure for hip-hop.”

The film is scheduled for release next year.

Comments are closed.