Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

I remember being a sophomore in college when People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm came out.  I thought, “Oh shit, they’re the ones from the De La record” and bought it without hesitation.  I was absolutely captivated by the offbeat lyrical sensibility, jazz-infused samples and laidback rhythms.  I played the hell out of that album.  When The Low End Theory came out, I was kind of disappointed that it wasn’t Travels Part II and pretty much lost track of Tribe.  I mean, I knew they were still around and I saw their albums, but I didn’t pay much attention.  More recently I’ve come to appreciate Low End for the amazing album that it is, although I admit I haven’t yet caught up with their later works.

The documentary is basically split up into three sections.  The first part provides a brief introduction and goes into the formation of the group and their influences.  The second part is a rather straightforward overview of their career, giving a few minutes to each album.  There are some reactions from other artists recognizing their impact on the world of hip hop, and the film doesn’t shy away too much from criticism of their last two albums.  And lastly it delves into the dissolution of the group, specifically the tensions between Q-Tip and Phife.  This is probably the most interesting part to non-fans and includes the only real drama in the story.  Jarobi’s early departure is barely touched on and it seems like it was generally accepted by everyone magnanimously.  It’s the Q-Tip/Phife division that tore them apart, and although we see them do some recent reunion concerts, you can sense that it’ll never be the same again.  It’s a sad but all too common tale of clashing personalities and egos impeding collaborative creativity.

This is probably about as enjoyable or interesting as a documentary about ATCQ can be.  Even with the Q-Tip/Phife stuff there isn’t a whole lot of drama there, and in general the music kind of speaks for itself.  Perhaps there are more stories to be told and Michael Rapaport (who, on the bonus features, is just as much of a big dumb goofball as you would imagine) isn’t skilled enough as an interviewer to dig deeper.  But it’s a reasonably entertaining film that reinvigorated my interest in their music.  Rating: Good

IMDb