Before y'all start clowning, like, "why this bushy eyebrow fool keep putting all this stuff from '04 on his page," understand that there's a lot of stuff I've done that has yet to see the light of day. (I have a 5, 000-word, seven-year-old article on Donny Hathaway that would make you cry.) Anyway, in the summer of '04, I was supposed to write for this startup underground hip-hop magazine called Resist. I pitched a "look back" article, designed to chronicle the making of a classic rap album. Eventually, we decided on A Tribe Called Quest's brilliant 1991 sophomore album, The Low End Theory. Through my boy Russ's connections, we got in touch with Phife Dawg's manager, DJ Rasta Root, who put me in touch with the man himself.
Most of the questions were Low End Theory-specific. If I had known that the magazine would fold before it started, and that getting to talk to the other two members would be decidedly more problematic, I would've asked more questions. Just as a fan. But as Phife said, you learn from your mistakes. Anyway, here's one-third of my favorite rap group of all time chatting via cell phone from his digs in Oakland. I found Malik Taylor (his given name) to be just as painfully honest and hysterically funny as the MC who let loose on such classic anthems as "Scenario" and "Award Tour." And I felt just as familiar talking with him as someone I had known my entire life.
JG: When did you first know that you wanted to do music?
Phife: I knew I wanted to be an MC when I realized I wasn’t growing any taller to play basketball. My dad played sports and around Queens, if you don’t play music and sports, you was a nerd. To get girls, rhyming was the thing. It was something that that I grew to enjoy. It became something I had to do.
JG: Who were your favorite MCs and musicians growing up?
Phife: Run DMC, LL Cool J, The Treacherous Three, Cold Crush… But my all-time favorites were KRS-One and Slick Rick.
JG: Your parents are both Trinidadian?
Phife: Yes.
JG: How did that culture influence you as a person and musician?
Phife: I couldn’t get away from it. Everybody in my family is from there. It kept me grounded. We wasn’t rich but had a lot of love. We were real close knit. Calypso is the thing in Trinidad. Like how reggae is the thing in Jamaica or go-go in D.C. Calypso was a huge influence.
JG: When did you first meet (bandmates Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad)?
Phife: I’ve known Tip all my life, I guess we met when we were two. Tip’s mom went to church with my grandma. The church ran the private school that I went to. Tip came to that school in the third grade. We were running mates in school, Little League, everything. As for Ali, he and Tip went to the same high school. [Murry Bergtraum] Jarobi moved around my grandmother’s neighborhood in Queens and we met when we were around 12 or 13.
JG: What were your first impressions of all of them?
Phife: Well, Tip was my best friend all through grade school, so I loved him! Ali seemed stern. Not that he didn’t have fun, but he’s really about business. Once that vein pops in his head, you don’t want to mess with him. In Tribe, Ali is definitely the spoon that stirred everything. If Tip and Phife are off wandering, he’s the one that’ll steer them back into line. Jarobi’s a knucklehead, but in a good way. If there’s tension, he’ll say something stupid to break it up.
JG: Tell me about the early days of the group. Any early talent show memories? And how did you guys learn one another’s preferences and dislikes as far as rhyming together?
Phife: Well, it was easy for Tip and I because we grew up together. We hung out so much that we could finish off each other’s sentences. Ali and Tip came together in high school. The chemistry between me and Ali just happened. I don’t remember any talent shows as a group. Tip and Ali were going to do something together and me and Jarobi were going to do something together but we were all together so much that once they got on with Jive, they put us on. Me and Jarobi weren’t on the first record contract.
JG: How did you guys hook up with the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul?
Phife: For the Jungle Brothers, Mike G and Afrika went to Murry Bergtraum. Mike G’s uncle is DJ Red Alert. We were just in the right place and the right time. Red Alert put them on, then they put us on. As for De La, we were fans of the “Plug Tunin’” record. I met them at a Jungle Brothers concert in Queens. They seemed to get everything from the jump -- inside jokes and stuff like that. Like if they were joking about something, you might be standing there and not get it or not understand. But I got the things that they were saying right then. We hit it off right away. We were all just a bunch of buddies who could do music and come together.
JG: How did you all come to the attention of Jive? Were there other labels interested?
Phife: I do know that Geffen was interested. But we got Jive’s attention through Tip’s work with the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul.
JG: By the second album, were you already having problems with Jive?
Phife: No, not by then. When Tip said the whole industry rule #4080 line, it was more due to managerial problems we were having. We learned a lot from the first album. We were under Red Alert’s management at the time. It was nothing that he did wrong. It was just time for us to become men and grow up.
JG: Did you do any production on the album?
Phife: No, Tip and Ali did all the production.
JG: What inspired you to write “Butter?”
Phife: Some of it was true. The other half was me making up stuff.
JG: Where was the group at while recording the album: emotionally, creatively, mentally, financially?
Phife: Do or die. We had to get over the managerial problems. At the time that we did the second album, the first hadn’t gone gold. Not that that’s the most important thing in the world, but, I felt like we’d have to get our shine on or we’d have to get regular jobs. I happened to run into Tip on the train one day and he said, “We gotta take it more serious.” We had a long talk. We decided I’d be more on the second album. We had to keep the Tribe thing going. Because we were doing shows and getting love everywhere we went. We had to step up to another level.
JG: How much do you think your personal lives affected what the album became?
Phife: I think that’s a good question for Tip. It was something that I had to do. I was working hard to accomplish something on all the Tribe albums, but especially the second one. It’s not that I wanted to be the star of the show. I’m a team player. My main concern was to contribute to the group. Get the money, get the house.
JG: Let’s talk about “Scenario.” Tell me about the night you performed it on The Arsenio Hall Show, the performance which made a whole lot of people pay attention to Busta Rhymes.
Phife: It was definitely a fun evening. We were just lovin’ to go to L.A. That was the epitome of traveling to us. It was our first time on Arsenio and everybody was juiced. Leaders of the New School came with us. I remember going to the Beverly Center. And Arsenio always had his guests stay at the Mondrian on Sunset. Instead of keys for the door, they had codes for the lock. They’d give you one or you could make it up. We were impressed by that. I kept thinking, “Everybody watches Arsenio, don’t mess up!” I think that was the best TV appearance that our group or the Leaders ever had. I remember I took Busta’s Dr. Seuss hat and held the mic for him.
JG: How do you feel about that song now?
Phife: When I hear it, I crack a smile. But I perform it all the time. When we first recorded it, it was one of the first songs we did. The original version had Black Sheep, Pos, Chris Lighty was even on it. Towards the end of the recording, we recorded it again and that’s the album version. Tip did the original beat as well as the other. He’s a perfectionist, which is his fault and strength. Tip could play me a beat on Thursday and I’ll be like, “That’s hot.” Then I’ll talk to him on Saturday and he’ll be like, “I hate that beat.” That’s just how he is. But as long as the music’s hot, I’ll let Q-Tip be Q-Tip.
JG: What was the difference between the way that Jive promoted that single and the way they did some of the other ones?
Phife: I never felt like they promoted anything, it was all us. They might have picked a single on the first album, but after that, it was us doing everything. They might have sent us on a promotional tour every now and then, but I don’t even remember that.
JG: Were you into jazz like Tip and Ali?
Phife: Not as much. No, I can’t say I was. I grew to love it being around them all the time. Seeing them pull things out for the samples. I do production now and they taught me all I know as far as production.
JG: Were there some other songs recorded for the album that didn’t make the cut?
Phife: “Mr. Incognito” didn’t make it. Thank God.
JG: How did you and Tip decide which songs you’d rap on together and which ones you’d do separately?
Phife: There were some songs that I didn’t like, that I didn’t want to rap on the beat. On the later albums, not on Low End Theory. Like on The Love Movement, “Like It Like That.” Originally, I didn’t like “Stressed Out.” Then, there was another beat, which I liked, but by the time he did the new one, I was in a foul mood.
JG: Tell me about the day you recorded “Check the Rhime.” And also the day that you shot the video.
Phife: I really don’t remember the day we recorded it. It was just an original beat that we had. As for the video, I just remember that it was the hottest day of the summer. And we were just out in the neighborhood, standing on top of the cleaners.
JG: Who directed that video?
Phife: I think his name was Joseph Swindell. He’s the same guy who directed the “Jazz” video. He shot all the videos for the album.
JG: What does the album title mean?
Phife: There’s two meanings: The first is the low end as far as the bass in the music. Also, how the black man is always on the low end of the totem pole for whatever reason.
JG: Where were you all living in those days?
Phife: I moved to Atlanta right after Midnight Marauders. Now Tip and Ali are in Jersey. I have homes in Queens, Atlanta and Oakland, where my fiancee lives.
JG: What was going on with Jarobi in those days?
Phife: When we were recording the first album -- Jarobi’s into the culinary arts, so he made up his mind that he wanted to go to school for that and that’s what he wanted to do.
JG: What was life like on the road promoting that album?
Phife: Staying up all night. After parties. Girls, more girls. It was never crazy. You know how you hear all those stories. Everyone had their moments but it never got out of control. Boys will be boys. Me personally, everywhere we went… like, if we had a show in Portland, I was at a Blazers game. Detroit -- a Pistons game. Tip’d be record shopping all day. Tip really didn’t really like touring, he’s a studio rat. He’d spend all day there if he could. I’m just now understanding that.
JG: What was your relationship like with Violator Management?
Phife: It was cool. They did a lot for us. Towards the end, it was just time to move on. Like, when it came to marketing, they’d call Tip and Ali before me, which I thought was bullshit.
JG: Did you ever feel restricted within the group in terms of things you could say by the label, management, or the group members themselves?
Phife: I always felt like that. Now that I’m older, I did my own album. I saw what that was like. Phife is 1/3 of Tribe, period. Mutty Ranks (Phife's alter ego) is Phife himself, just don’t give a damn. When it really affected me was an interview with Chris X, for a London hip-hop magazine. He made it like I was the black sheep of the group, like I was the lost child. Because I didn’t share the same [religious beliefs]. I said, if [Tip and Ali] aren’t knocking me, who are you to do that? That’s when I didn’t want to be in the group anymore. “Phife’s the weak link. Is it too late for Phife?” I thought it was unfair. [But] I’m not a crybaby dude.
Internally, there were some issues. We’re not gonna agree all the time. I have a hard time being phony. There were a lot of times like, if I’d have just shut up, I coulda benefited. But I have no regrets. It was a lot of whisperings going on behind my back when I moved to Atlanta. My reasons were that I was tired of New York. I’m 22 years old, living in my grandmother’s basement. My mom lived in Brooklyn. I’m a rap artist on BET, with rotation, you’re getting paid to do what you love but you have to sneak girls in the house. Neighbors ratting on you. My grandma’s a nurse, so she worked nights.
I didn’t have to move to Atlanta. But I was dating someone serious at the time who was there. I don’t know why I thought that would work. I was hoeing. I should’ve known that wouldn’t work. They were whispering, like, he don’t care about the group. That caused a little separation. The chemistry on Beats, Rhymes and Life wasn’t there. It just wasn’t a good time for us. The last album, I didn’t want to be involved. I agree I was wrong for that. I have no regrets. You learn from your mistakes.
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