On Saturday night,A Tribe Called Quest was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And to celebrate the occasion, a number of people spoke on the group’s impact, with figures like André 3000 extending praise to them in a pre-recorded video, while others, like Dave Chappelle, were present to take in the honor with them.
“Tribe, I want to thank you for your service,” Chappelle said during a tribute speech for the group. “What you’ve done for our culture means the world for me, but what you did for me that night changed my life, because that night you shared your platform with me and invited me to be on Saturday Night Live with you, and it brought me back to television after 12 years in the cold. And I will always, always be grateful for you.”
Of course, Chappelle was referring to Tribe’s 2016 appearance on SNL following the release of their final album, Thank You 4 Your Service, We Got It from Here. During their appearance, they served as a battle cry against the then-impending Donald Trump presidency, performing the politically charged song “We the People…” and honoring fellow member Phife Dawg, who passed away earlier that year.
It’s unfortunate that the Five-Foot Assassin couldn’t be there with Q-Tip and Jarobi White (Ali Shaheed Muhammad also wasn’t present, with his sister being there in his place). But the pair made sure to have the late rapper represented, with both of them acknowledging Phife in their speeches, as well as having his parents with them onstage.
Along with honoring Phife in his speech, Tip made sure to paint the picture of how Tribe came to be.
“What’s more rock and roll than the blues? But just like our predecessors, we had to find spaces on the outskirts of cities and towns, from a southern sun house off Robert Johnson Crossroads to a transformed room in a hood tenement on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx,” he said. “The need to express burns in us with an art-fueled determination. A spark. The spark that embers within many of us in this room, and the spark that burned within the four of us boys in 1985 in New York City.”
In a way, Tribe’s honor wasn’t just about Tribe. It was about hip-hop, of course. But it was also about Tribe’s hip-hop family, the Native Tongues.
A portion of that brilliant and short lived hip-hop collective — which comprised Tribe, De La Soul, Queen Latifah, the Jungle Brothers and others — helped celebrate the occasion with Tribe, as De La, Latifah and peripheral members like Busta Rhymes and Common, along with Native Tongues descendants The Roots, performed some of the group’s classics: “Can I Kick It?,” “Check The Rhime,” “Bonita Applebum” and more.
To see the joy expressed both on and offstage as these performances happened was a testament to Tribe’s enduring legacy, as well as the peers they grew up with and those they influenced. From Latifah handling Tip’s verse on “Can I Kick It?” to Busta delivering his “Scenario” feature with the same gusto and intensity he had as a youngin’, it was a fitting tribute for Tribe, with Tip and Jarobi just able to bask in the honor.
Tribe’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has been a long time coming. They’ve been eligible since 2015, and were previously nominated in 2022 and 2023. Now, they’ve finally received the accomplishment.
As Tip said during his speech, Tribe “had a destiny to fulfill.” And it was incredible to see that destiny be honored over the weekend.
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