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NEWS : STORIES
News that A Tribe Called Quest are in the home stretch of their illustrious hip-hop career was greeted with sadness and reflection by fans, some of whom see the impending breakup as the end of an era in rap. "It just seems that all the
While other Native Tongues Posse-affiliated artists such as De La Soul, Queen Latifah and KRS-One continue to release albums to critical acclaim and small sales, Ryall said he thinks the breakup of Tribe marks the end of an era when such groups could be counted on for turning out a brand of hip-hop that spoke for a certain segment of rap's audience. As the trio tours the country, opening for the Beastie Boys, fans are reporting that Tribe, best known for including jazz samples and rhythms into their hip-hop on songs such as the hit "Scenario," have been announcing onstage from venue to venue that their next album, The Love Movement (Sept. 29), will be their last. Representatives for Jive Records, the label the group has called home for the past nine years, confirmed the disbanding. Earlier this year, label representatives denied rumors that the group was, in fact, breaking up. Fans and rap colleagues were taken aback by the news. "I'm genuinely sad to hear that," former House of Pain frontman Everlast (born Erik Schrody) said when informed of the potential split Thursday afternoon. Calling from a tour stop in Los Angeles, where he's playing to drum up support for his forthcoming blues/folk-flavored solo debut, Whitey Ford Sings The Blues, Everlast said that Tribe are one of his favorite groups and called the news "a real loss for hip-hop." However, as someone who has left a popular group, he said he could understand why Tribe might be calling it a day. "People said I was crazy when I left House of Pain," he explained, "but I was genuinely unhappy. If that's what's going on with them, then I wish them luck with whatever they decide to do. If you're unhappy, you've gotta do what's right for yourself to help yourself feel good." Brian Bodnarchuk, a 24-year-old student who attended both the Wednesday show in Milwaukee and the Thursday show in Chicago, said that at both shows, Q-Tip (born Jonathan Davis) announced from the stage that The Love Movement would be the group's last album. "Everyone booed loudly and for a good length of time," Bodnarchuk said of the audience's reaction. "Instead of giving a reason, though, [Q-Tip] turned the mood around and thanked all the hip-hop fans for making it possible for them to make music, and they thanked the Beastie Boys a couple of times for 'taking them under their wing when no one else would.' " Postings by mournful fans on the Usenet newsgroup rec.music.hip-hop, an online forum for fans to discuss rap music, confirm that Q-Tip announced the breakup from the stage in Chicago and Milwaukee and indicate that he had also made similar announcements at tour stops in Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, British Columbia. A Tribe Called Quest formed in Queens, N.Y., in 1988 when rappers Q-Tip and Phife (born Malik Taylor) and DJ Ali (born Ali Shaheed Muhammad) met as students at the Murray Bergtraum High School for Business Careers in New York City. They began to make a name for themselves by appearing on albums by De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers, leading the group to be signed by Jive in 1989. They, along with fellow rappers De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, Monie Love and Black Sheep, made up the Native Tongues Posse. Other artists more loosely affiliated with Native Tongues included KRS-One, Leaders of the New School and hard-rockers Living Colour. A Tribe Called Quest's 1990 debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, pioneered the use of jazz samples in hip-hop and spawned such widely recognized hip-hop classics as "Bonita Applebum," "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" and "Can I Kick It." They followed in 1991 with The Low End Theory, another widely acclaimed hip-hop classic, which spawned such songs as "Check the Rhyme" and "Scenario." By the time they released Midnight Marauders in 1993, the explosion of gangsta rap was just kicking into high gear, but they still scored hits in the form of "Award Tour" and "Oh My God." Beats, Rhymes and Life, issued in 1996, was also warmly received by critics, but Tribe began to stick out like a sore thumb in a scene dominated by such hardcore rappers as Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg and the Notorious B.I.G. Their final album, The Love Movement, has been delayed several times and is currently scheduled for release in late September. And while many fans say they are saddened by the breakup, some say they understand as well. "Of course I'm not happy about it," Ryall explained. "But I feel like it's probably time. The effort wasn't really there for their last album and the stuff I've heard since then didn't reflect the same effort in the production and the lyrics." A Tribe Called Quest's next show opening for the Beastie Boys is at Molson Park Arena in Barrie, Ontario, on Saturday. From there, they play Montreal, Auburn Hills, Mich., and then wrap things up at the Continental Airline Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 22.
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