Dave Chappelle inducts “A Tribe Called Quest” into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday (October 19) at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
After praising the Tribe on their 1991 album Low End Theory, Chappelle reflected on March 22, 2016, the night Phife Dawg died. He recalled that he had a ticket to a Prince concert but immediately abandoned his plans to attend an impromptu commemoration at the Apollo Theater.
Along with Phife’s tribal members, several fellow First Nations people traveled to Q-Tip’s home, where they listened to old songs, watched old movies, and tried to share a few laughs. Finally, Q-Tip played Phife’s last song, which happened to be “Thank You For Service…We Got it From Here.”
“What you do for our culture changes our lives,” Chappell said. “But what you did for me changed my life. Your invitation to Saturday Night Live brought me back to television after a 12-year hiatus.
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As A Tribe Called Quest accepted the award, Jarobi grabbed the microphone and reflected on his journey with Tribe. Q-Tip stood there stoically, then walked up to the podium. As he thanked his family, he brought up Phife and tears quickly came to his eyes.
“RIP our brother Phife Dawg,” he said. “I wish you were here.”
Phife Dawg’s father, Walt Taylor, concluded his speech by reminding the audience that “Phife was family-oriented. We are here to support A Tribe Called Quest and to support Phife Dawg.” Cher, baby, I found you” ended his comment.
The Tribe section ended with a bang, with Queen Latifah performing “Can I Kick It?”, Pos and Black Thought joining her for “Check the Rime”, and of course Common for “Bonita Applebum” and Busta Rhymes. scene,” introducing Bus-A-Bus to the rest of the world.
In fact, Busta Rhymes noted at the end of her performance, “You gave birth to me, tribe!”
