If the passing of A Tribe Called Quest’s Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor and the subsequent marathoning of the beloved hip-hop group’s best videos had you longing for more music, you’re in luck. During a recent interview on Elliott Wilson’s Rap Radar podcast, Epic Records CEO L.A. Reid let slip that the group would be releasing a new album. It will be their first one since 1998’s The Love Movement, previously believed to be their fifth and final studio effort.
“You know what I’m excited about though? A Tribe Called Quest,” Reid unexpectedly revealed. “We have a Tribe Called Quest album coming. I’m really excited about that. We recorded it before Phife passed away, and I’m really happy about it. Man, it’s really something special. It’s one of the things I’m most excited about out of everything we’re working on.”
Reid told the host that the entire group was involved in the new album. Jarobi White — the mysterious fourth founding member who now cooks tacos in Bed-Stuy and runs a company called Eats, Rhymes, & Life — has not appeared on an album since their 1990 debut record People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. “Phife is there and the whole group — Jarobi, the entire group, everybody,” Reid said. After Tribe planned a massive campaign to reissue their Peoples’ Instinctive Travels And The Paths of Rhythm last year, Q-Tip, Phife, Ali, and Jarobi reunited in November last year to perform “Can I Kick It?” with The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. This was the last time they ever performed together.
Related: The enduring relevance of A Tribe Called Quest’s underrated street style
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Text and photography courtesy Stussy Biannual