Who Are The Members Of A Tribe Called Quest? All You Should Know 

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They came, they saw, and they conquered the American music industry of the 90’s such that John Bush described A Tribe Called Quest as “the most intelligent, artistic rap group of the 1990s.” For their many good production of good music, the group was given a Special Achievement Award at the Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta in the year 2005 while in 2007, they were honored at the 4th VH1 Hip-Hop Honours in recognition of their immense contributions as the pioneer of alternative hip-hop music in the American music industry and indeed music industries world over.

Who are the Members of A Tribe Called Quest? – All You Should Know

A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip-hop group originally formed in the year 1985 in St. Albans, Queens, New York, United States and had as its founding members Q-Tip (MC and main producer), Phife Dawg (MC), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (DJ and co-producer) and Jarobi White (MC).

They released a total of 6 albums between 1990 to 2016 amidst all the challenges they had at various times including disbandment, members going solo and even the death of a member. The musical group A Tribe Called Quest has gone inactive but their music and legacy lives on. Get to know the members of the group here and what has become of them.

Q-Tip

He was named Jonathan William Davis at birth on 10th April 1970 but would later change his name to Kamaal Ibn John Fareed as a result of his conversion to Islam.

Q-Tip has traced his roots to the Jola people of Guinea Bissau according to his DNA analysis. However, his father was from Montserrat in the eastern Carribean while his mother is of African American ethnicity from Alabama.

When he was little, his parents relocated to St. Albans, Queens while at a later time he schooled at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, New York.

His career for which we know him started in 1985 when he formed A Tribe Called Quest with his friends. The Abstract as he refers to himself would later go solo in his music career come 1998 and produced singles like Vivrant Thing and Breathe and Stop in addition to others. His career also saw him work as a music producer and disc jockey.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Ali was born on August 11, 1970, as a native of Brooklyn, New York. He is recognized as an American hip hop DJ, record producer, and rapper.

He formed a music production group called The Ummah with Jay Dee and Q-Tip but didn’t see the group last a long time. After the disbandment of the group, he formed an R&B supergroup called Lucy Pearl with Dawn Robinson and Raphael Saadiq and had a few albums released.

He, however, became more popular for his involvement with the group A Tribe Called Quest and following the non-existence of the group again, Ali Shaheed Muhammad is reported to now co-host NPR’s Microphone Check radio show.

Phife Dawg

Sadly, Phife is no more. He was born to Cheryl Allison Boyce-Taylor and Walt Taylor on the 20th of November 1970 in St. Albans, Queens, New York, the U.S. where he grew up being known as Malik Izaak Taylor.

The rapper was childhood friends with Q-Tip and made immense contributions to the success of their music group’s 1991 second album titled The Low-End Theory. He often rapped about social and economic issues in the songs on the album and referred to himself as the five-foot assassin.

Phife was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus in May 1990. He disclosed this in A Tribe Called Quest’s 3rd album where he referred to himself as a “funky diabetic.” He received a kidney transplant from his wife in 2008 but this was unsuccessful as he soon required another transplant in 2012.

Death took hold of him on March 22, 2016, in his home in Contra Costa County, California at the age of 45 due to complications from his diabetes.

 

Jarobi White

Jarobi left A Tribe Called Quest in 1991 after the release of their debut album People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm to pursue a career in culinary arts. He is the youngest of the Quest music group members being born on the 1st of July 1971.

After he left the group, he continued making music with DJ Rasta Root and fellow bandmate Phife Dawg until his death in 2016. Though Jarobi didn’t rap in A Tribe Called Quest albums, his contributions were more in ideas of the songs the group sang. Out of 13 music videos credited to the group, he appeared in 5.

Jarobi White made a come back to the music group in 2016 and was part of their last album, We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service and rapped in the album for the first time.

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