The trailer for Michael Rapaport’s documentary on A Tribe Called Quest just hit the internet, and like the band it chronicles, the clip is well-organized and full of big ideas and big influences. Outside of Public Enemy, NWA, Run-DMC and maybe Wu-Tang Clan, there has perhaps never been a more influential group in the history of hip-hop. Combining a keen, socially-aware message and engaging hooks, A Tribe Called Quest released five critically acclaimed albums during their roughly ten year career including one, The Low End Theory, that’s widely considered to be one of the greatest LPs of all-time.
Turmoil within the group eventually drove a wedge between singers Q-Tip and Phife Dawg, and they acrimoniously parted for almost a decade, only to return five years ago for a series of shows that both reminded fans how brilliant they, along with third member Ali Shaheed Muahammad, were and reminded Q-Tip and Phife Dawg why they split in the first place. Here’s a look at the Yahoo-released trailer for Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest below…
As you can tell from the above clip, Beats, Travels & Life features a treasure of interviews from not only the group’s members but also the movers and shakers who helped their career and famous musicians greatly influenced by their work. Some of those inspired successors include Common, Ludacris, Mos Def, the Beastie Boys and Pharrell Williams.
Beats, Travels & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to positive reviews, and it’ll hit theaters in limited release July 8th, 2011. I’d highly recommend you check it out. The music industry would have been vastly different with the group’s voices.
