BEATS, RHYMES AND LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST (Michael Rapaport, U.S.). 98 minutes. Rating: NNN
Michael Rapaport’s A Tribe Called Quest bio often feels like any other E! celebrity profile about a successful band that just can’t keep it together.
There’s nothing new about the bicker ing between lead rappers Q-Tip and Phife, or their redundant breakup-and-reunion cycle. It helps that these lyricists are our key narrators, so at least they add wit and humour to their brief history.
What was and still is groundbreaking is Tribe’s music: conscious rhymes spit over remixed jazz samples. In the film’s first half, Rapaport delivers a sweet, nostalgic trip back to the days when hip-hop heads rocked boom boxes instead of iPhones and blasted Tribe and De La Soul’s backpack raps instead of the Auto-Tuned tracks dominating airwaves today.
As soon as the music stops and the personal conflicts get in the way, this doc becomes the same old song.
