Robbie Ettelson:
“It’s a tough gig to live in the shadow a rap renaissance man such as a Q-Tip, but Phife Dawg proved himself the ultimate team player and an essential part of the mighty group known as A Tribe Called Quest. Having started off as a largely forgettable sidekick on the first album, Phife stepped up his game significantly and proved himself to be the perfect foil to Tip’s laid-back persona on 1992’s Low End Theory album. They further refined the formula on the sublime Midnight Marauders LP (before opening up the locker room to new recruits Jay Dee and Consequence on the next two projects), demonstrating a level of chemistry only equaled by the likes of EPMD, Run-DMC and M.O.P.
I was saddened to hear that Phife lost his long struggle with diabetes yesterday, age 45. THe was apparently ‘locked in the studio until June’ when I attempted to arrange an interview early last year, so we may yet hear a final release from him in the near future, but regardless his passing is a huge loss for Tribe fans everywhere. Here are sixteen great moments of Phife doing his thing as we salute the five foot assassin.
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