KCRW Presents Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

(USA, 2011, 95 mins)

Producers: Edward Parks, Michael Rapaport, Frank Mele, Eric Matthies, Robert Benavides, Debra Koffler, ATCQ
Cinematographer: Robert Benavides
Editors: Lenny Mesina, AJ Schnack
Featuring: Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi White
Music: Madlib

Live DJ sets by KCRW's Dan Wilcox, Anthony Valadez and Garth Trinidad

Music stars at 7 p.m.

Movie starts at 8:30 p.m.

As Beats, Rhymes & Life begins, the rappers who anchored pioneering group A Tribe Called Quest are already going their separate ways. As youths in the mid-'80s, the Queens-born foursome of Tribe—Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White—found success with their exhuberant exploration and combination of hip hop, pop and jazz. But in recent years, Q-Tip, the band's visionary and reluctant pop star, has tired of the street-bred capriciousness of his lyrical partner Phife, who is equally frustrated with Q-Tip. How these two friends and musical partners got to this state forms the guts of actor-turned-filmmaker Michael Rapaport's candid and combustible documentary.

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