Director: Michael Rappaport
Subject: A Tribe Called Quest
Last fall during TIFF I saw the world premiere of Pearl Jam Twenty. I like, but don't love Pearl Jam, which made me one of the biggest PJ haters at the screening. The crowd's energy created a fun movie-going experience and Cameron Crowe got lots of great footage, but it was largely a piece of fan service and didn't try to ask any tough questions. After watching Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest I know how the rest of that PJ 20 audience felt. The Low End Theory is in my all-time top 5 hip-hop albums*, Midnight Marauders is close behind. I can remember listening to Vivrant Thing throughout the 8th grade, before I even knew ATCQ existed and I once traveled to El Segundo just so I could leave my wallet there. This is all to say, that there was about a 0% chance I would dislike this movie, so my rating is split: 4 stars for fans of the band and 3 stars for non-fans.
After watching PJ-20 I described it as a hagiopic and to Michael Rappaport's credit BRL has actual conflict and a strong narrative that isn't "look at how awesome we are". ATCQ was formed while all of the principals were still in high school, despite their youth they became one of the most innovative hip hop bands of all time. While their legacy prevails, their last classic album was released when many similarly aged MCs (I hesistate in calling them their peers) were just getting started. Their third album Midnight Marauders was released before Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, Illmatic, Do You Want More?!!!??! and many other seminal east coast 90s hip hop albums. BRL has interviews with Pharrell Williams and ?uestlove who treat ATCQ with such reverence that they sound like The Rolling Stones talking about Muddy Waters, eventhough they were born 3 years and 1 year apart, respectively.
The heart of the documentary comes from the relationship between Q-Tip and Phife Dawg. Q-Tip is a musical prodigy, who in one of the films most captivating sequences shows how he bit the drums from Lonnie Smith's Spinning Wheel for Can I Kick It? Q-Tip is someone who will remeber the bass-line from a song he listened to 5 years ago and manage to reincorporate into a new song. Phife Dawg is a funny, affable diabetic-sidekick, who resembles every short yappy sidekick in every movie ever. I would love to grab a beer, smoke a joint or talk to him about sports, but his irresponsibility would become frusturating. Rapparort smartly frames the documentary around the relationship between the two, who were best friends as kids and became the front men of ATCQ for more than a decade. Q-Tip is a perfectionist who has spent many nights working by himself in the studio and became the breakout star of the group. Phife Dawg resents the acclaim Q-Tip has received, while Q-Tip pities Phife's lack of discipline. They are still friends, but as friends grow up they start to value different things and grow apart. BRL is a fascinating oral history of a seminal hip hop band, a touching story about two best friends growing apart and a must-watch for any hip-hop fan.
*For fun in no order
Illmatic
Supreme Clientele
The Low End Theory
Chronic 2001
Hell Hath No Fury
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