After all the hype and controversy, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, was one of the most entertaining documentaries to play at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It officially opens on July 8 in New York and Los Angeles and is scheduled for its local opening at the Tivioli Theatre on Aug. 5, according to the film’s distributors, Sony Pictures Classics.
The only way anyone may not find something enjoyable about this profound documentary is if you hate hip-hop and for that matter anything it stands for. People with an open mind who aren’t even fans will enjoy the interpersonal relationships, the great characters and the classic story of the hard work that goes into music making. And if you happen to be a fan of A Tribe or just a casual hip-hop fan, then Beats Rhymes & Life will keep your head bopping and your feet tapping for 95 minutes straight.
This much-tooted documentary chronicles the groundbreaking hip-hop group, A Tribe Called Quest. The Director, Michael Rapaport and crew traveled throughout 2008 with Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White to record it. The result is an enthralling behind-the-scenes look at A Tribe, their journey and their contributions.
With interviews from a ton of musicians who were influenced by them (Beastie Boys, Pharrell Williams, and Questlove to name but a few), it also covers rare stories from Native Tongues members like Monie Love, the Jungle Brothers, Busta Rhymes, and De La Soul.
But above all, the documentary attempts to find answers to the question that every fan has long pondered, “will Tribe ever make more music?” Beats, Rhymes & Life, delves into the bottom of Tip and Phife’s rocky relationship ever since they were best friends on Linden Boulevard – a feud that seems irreparable. A Tribe Called Quest definitely deserves a movie to properly portray their story as a band even though some of the members have denounced it after filming.
Look out for interviews from hip-hop elite such as DJ Red Alert, Monie Love, the Jungle Brothers, Busta Rhymes, the Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Pharrell, Mos Def, Santigold, Monie Love, Pete Rock, Large Professor, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers and Common HERE .
