BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

Year: 2011
USA: Sony Pictures Classics
Cast: Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi White
Director: Michael Rapaport
Country: USA
USA: 95 mins
USA Rated: R for language
USA Release Date: 8 July 2011 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

Directed by Michael Rapaport, the documentary is about one of the most influential and groundbreaking musical groups in hip-hop history. Having released five gold and platinum selling albums within eight years, A Tribe Called Quest has been one of the most commercially successful and artistically significant musical groups in recent history, and regarded as iconic pioneers of hip hop. The band’s sudden break-up in 1998 shocked the industry and saddened the scores of fans, whose appetite for the group’s innovative musical stylings never seems to diminish.

A hard-core fan himself, Rapaport sets out on tour with A Tribe Called Quest in 2008, when they reunited to perform sold-out concerts across the country, almost ten years after the release of their last album, The Love Movement. As he travels with the band members (Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White), Rapaport captures the story of how tenuous their relationship has become.