After the loss of his dear friend and A Tribe Called Quest bandmate Phife Dawg, Q-Tip still hosted his recurring Friday night show Abstract Radio on Beats 1, but everything was not business as usual.
The show, which opened with A Tribe Called Quest’s song “Oh My God,” gave various musicians the opportunity to offer their tributes to the fallen ATCQ member.
Big Boi said, “Phife actually came by the studio a little while ago and just kind of vibed out…. He’ll definitely be missed by the world, and definitely myself and my family.”
The second half of Outkast, André 3000 added, “A Tribe Called Quest is everything, everything to me. There will not be no Outkast without A Tribe Called Quest. It was everything to me in high school, just listening to Q-Tip run the verses. And I remember being really interested in vocabulary. He actually made me want to know more about words and use them as tools. Like, words that you may have not even know before. He made it actually cool to use those words.”
“Me being one of the new cats," said Compton's Kendrick Lamar, "all I can remember is either listening to gangster rap or Low End Theory. So it’s only right that I pay homage to Phife and Tribe,” Lamar added as part of a lengthier tribute to the Five-Foot Assassin.
Stream the entire show here and hear more of hip-hop’s greatest honor Phife Dawg.
H/t: Complex
