documentary /2011

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

Director1

  • Michael Rapaport

Summary

Michael Rapaport's documentary on A Tribe Called Quest, shot during their 2008 Rock the Bells reunion tour. The film traces the group's Native Tongues origins, classic-album run and the long tension between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg. It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Hip-hop relevance

The definitive screen account of one of hip-hop's most influential groups and a primary source on Phife Dawg's life before his 2016 death. Generated public friction with the group around editorial choices, itself a useful artifact of how hip-hop biographies get negotiated.

Key cast4

Subjects3

Linked moments 0

No moments anchored here yet.

External

Citations 2

  1. B
    Wikipedia — Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  2. B
    The New York Times — Beats, Rhymes & Life — NYT review Retrieved 2026-05-24.

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