Former Tribe Called Quest Members Vent About Breakup

09/29/2000 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(9/29/00, 7 a.m. ET) - A Tribe Called Quest is no more, and now two former members of the groundbreaking hip-hop crew are venting about the soured relationships that led to the group's demise.

On Phife Dawg's new solo album, Ventilation: Da LP, released on Tuesday (September 26), the Queens rapper rants about his former group, his former record label, and the music industry in general. On the track "Flawless," Phife uses an alter ego called Mutty Ranks to aim some cutting remarks at a fellow rapper. Many have interpreted the lyrics as criticism of former bandmate Q-Tip, whose video for his smash 1999 hit "Vivrant Thing" featured a fashion-forward Tip surrounded by dancing girls.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Tribe's former beatmaker and now one-third of Lucy Pearl, recently told LAUNCH that the pressure of the group's recording contract is what caused the split. "We were locked into that doggoned long-term, hold-it-over-your-head-no-matter-how-much-money-you've-made-us deal," he explained. "It frustrated our relationship. We just said enough is enough, and it got to a point where we were arguing with the label constantly, and they labeled us as problem artists because we didn't fall for their continual type of behavior, you want to call it. It got to the point where making music wasn't fun."

Muhammad added that he had no personal beef with Q-Tip or Phife Dawg, but a reunion album is unlikely. Lucy Pearl and producing other acts are his focus now, and he doesn't regret the breakup.

"Us making that decision was just such a big weight lifted," he said, "and it was like, OK, it was scary because we had that security blanket of making records, and we knew that every couple of years we could hit the road and we'd get a little check to do this and do that. But when you're no longer doing something that you've been doing for a long time, it gets scary. But so what? Look at the outcome. Q-Tip has a solo record, I'm doing this, and Phife-- you'll be hearing his solo record."

-- Janine Coveney, Los Angeles

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