Must-see doc: A Tribe Called Quest exposed, along with a compelling chunk of hip-hop history

If you’re not a devout hip-hop head, you might not fully appreciate the breadth of influence Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White have had on the past two decades of music. A Tribe Called Quest, the seminal ’80s alternative rap act from Queens, burst onto the scene with clever rhymes, innovative meldings of hip-hop and jazz and a staunch refusal to engage in typical rap posturing. Songs like “Bonita Applebum”, “Can I Kick It?” and “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” have influenced an entire generation of musicians, from Beastie Boys and Pharrell to Questlove and Busta Rhymes.

New York actor Michael Rapaport (Boston Public, Higher Learning) takes his first shot at directing with the refreshing music doc Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest. From its opening credits with old school ‘90s animation, it’s a stylish treatment that does justice to Tribe’s fly…well, beats and rhymes. It’s obvious Rapaport is wearing many hats: fan, filmmaker and fly-on-the-wall. He does a fine job at building a comprehensive history of the band, while not falling into the trap of a Behind the Music-type TV doc. During a prolific 8-year streak (1990-1998), Tribe released five albums – but the band’s then sudden breakup left many confounded. The four original members reunited in 2006 for a string of sold-out concerts across America, with Rapaport and his film crew tagging along. It's also on this tour that the pent-up tension between childhood friends Q-Tip and Phife came to the fore, and in front of Rapaport’s camera, no less.

Of course, Beats, Rhymes & Life's looks into the crystal-clear tension between group mates (which explains why the originally leaked trailer was titled “Beats Rhymes & Fights”), but it also delves into Q-Tip’s mastery in reworking long-buried musical samples, Phife’s lifelong struggle with diabetes and a peek into the ‘90s Native Tongues hip-hop movement, of which Tribe and De La Soul were part of. Sure, at times the camerawork is shaky and the shots are often over/underexposed, but can Rapaport kick it? Yes, he can.

 

 

When you set out to make your doc about Tribe, could you have imagined you’d be around to capture some pretty pivotal – and revealing – scenes about the group’s dynamic?
Rapaport: No, I didn’t come in with any expectations. Obviously before getting into this I was a fan of theirs and I knew a lot about the music but I didn’t know much about them individually and I certainly didn’t know much about the dynamic of the group. So I was surprised by it, but that’s the happenstance of documentary filmmaking.  

 

A Tribe Called Quest's classic "Can I Kick It?"

 

There are certain key scenes that demonstrate just how comfortable they felt around you – Jarobi crying on camera, for instance.  What was the process of gaining their trust like?
Rapaport: I think I came into it with their trust, I think they were familiar with my work, they knew I’d been a fan of the group. I approached them individually, because each one of them was a little different to deal with. Jerobi and Phife were sort of open 24-7 from the beginning for anything. Q-Tip and Ali have different personalities from the other guys. So you’d deal with them as individuals, and you try to be patient and respectfully intrusive.  

 

You’ve said that these guys are like comic book characters, that they have these larger than life personas. Having gotten to break through that veneer and get to know them, would you say you were disappointed or conversely, did that give you a renewed appreciation for them?
Rapaport: I wasn’t disappointed at all because, you know, who am I to judge? I’m no day at the beach myself – at all. I have more of an appreciation for the music and I respect the fact that they were so honest with me. You know, they’re a group, they have a family dynamic, I think that all families have their dysfunctions, I’ve never seen or heard of one that doesn’t. A Tribe Called Quest broke up, but then again, everyone from The Beatles to N Sync broke up. I think in Tribe’s case, it’s maybe a little more surprising because their music, their vibe and their aura are so positive, and that’s completely genuine. But they’re human beings just like anybody else.

Q-Tip and filmmaker Michael Rapaport

 

What do you make of Q-Tip and Phife's relationship? By the film's end, the root cause of their butting heads remains ambiguous. Whether it's a question of ego, of money, of differing visions. What’s your take on it?
Rapaport: Well, that’s a good point. You know, I wasn’t trying to give a definitive answer because I think it would be impossible to have people’s relationships all figured out like that. I think it’s a lot of things. For one, time – because they’ve been in each other’s lives, personally and professionally, for 30-something years, and I think they have a love hate relationship just as brothers do. They love each other, they want to kill the fuck out of each other, but at the end of the day… they love each other. I was never trying to dissect it, figure it out or take sides. I just wanted to present it.

 

You've said that another filmmaker might not have put up with the stuff you did, like taking your characters’ input about what should make the final cut. While most of the guys have publicly stated that they liked the film, Q-Tip at one point tweeted that he did not support the documentary, nor its director. Had another filmmaker directed the film, what would that version have looked like?
Rapaport: I’ll say this: if another filmmaker had the footage that I had in the editing room, a filmmaker not as respectful and caring to the group, that individual could have presented a much more derogatory, inflammatory version of the film. I know that, based on everything that I shot, with Tribe and all the people I interviewed, that this is a very, very respectful, honest depiction of my time with the group. There’s a far more inflammatory version of the film that could have been made based on what I had, but that was never my agenda. I respect the group and I respect the four guys as individuals.

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

 

That definitely comes across in the film. Having operated on fiction sets for most of your life, is there something that surprised you along the way about the documentary process?
Rapaport: Man, there were a lot of surprises. The editing was an overwhelming place to be at times. I wasn’t surprised by it, I was just overwhelmed by it. I shot such great footage off the top, about 100 hours, so to know in my gut that we had the movie in the footage but to decipher through the footage and get the best stuff was a challenge. Music clearances was, I guess a surprise. Clearing the music and the archival footage was overwhelming and daunting.

 

The movie's end title is quite hopeful, reminding us that Tribe is still under contractual obligation to produce one more record. Do you think that'll ever happen?
Rapaport: I get asked that question a lot these days, and I give different answers all the time. I don’t know if it’ll ever get done, I know that I would be excited, I know the fans would be excited, I know it would be great for hip-hop. It’s on them. I know that they wouldn’t want to just put something out for the sake of putting it out, especially at this point. They’d want it to be special, and live up to the expectations. So I don’t have the answer to that, but I know that I would be first in line to buy it.

 

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
Now in theatres (AMC Forum) | sonyclassics.com/beatsrhymesandlife