It’s now 2012, and while many of us are in the full swing of things with new music for the new year, some are still stuck in the notion that New York Hip Hop is either stuck in or should sound exactly like 1994.

Fortunately, the new crop of NY’s finest are marrying the home of hip hop’s traditions with a bold look toward the future. Here’s a quick playlist of names you either should know by now or need to know in 2012.

Action Bronson

Dining with Anthony Bourdain one minute and recording tracks with Meyham Lauren the next, Bronson’s taste for fine foods, 80s professional wrestlers and pop culture nonsequitors is only matched by his tireless work ethic and an almost unfair quality control. With two outstanding albums in last year’s Dr. Lecter and Well Done as well as several announced projects in the coming months, the eclectic Energizer Bunny of rap just keeps going as an excited audience keeps listening.

A$AP Rocky

With both a decade long stigma of rejecting outsiders as well as a genocide of its record stores, you wouldn’t expect an NY talent to wear the influence of other regions on his sleeve. Harlem’s A$AP Rocky stands as New York’s first child of the post-Napster generation to combine the hustle and sleekness of his hometown with, among other inspirations, Memphis’s brooding crawl and Houston’s spacey ingenuity. Not merely a revivalist, the tradition he most proudly carries is an unmistakable rugged boldness that only Harlem could manifest.

Brown Bag AllStars

Individually the members of Brown Bag AllStars could account for half of this list, but together they form a Castle Greyskull of boom-bap viciousness. As insular as they are talented, their work ethic and self-awareness allows for release after release of playing to their own strengths. Rappers Soul Khan and Koncept have both recently released projects entirely produced by fellow members and with both J57 and Audible Doctor producing on some of the year’s most anticipated releases, the crew’s upcoming debut album promises to be the best record the crew’s fallen nexus, Manhattan’s Fatbeats Records, was never able to stock.

Dollar Coffee

The duo of BS and Albert Rhymestein know what made you first love rap music and, on their debut Nice Things, bring you right back to that feeling. Catchy, complex and cunning, the duo are as skilled at earworms as they are at rocking a crowd. That includes most recently receiving the rarest of warm embraces from New York’s Apollo Theater. With enough punchlines and hooks to win a fighting championship, Dollar Coffee remain the tag team champions of good time hip-hop.

Homeboy Sandman

Although he now calls Los Angeles’ Stones Throw records home, it’s still same number, same hood for New York hip hop’s archangel. Not satisfied with his already astronomical heights, Homeboy Sandman continues to push boundaries conceptually and constructively with his Subject Matter EP. As bold as it is to base an entire project on the concept of touching topics rap has never covered before, it’s only the beginning. Sandman’s reliability for dope rap music doesn’t stem from his staying the same, but his desire to continue evolving.

Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire

Last year’s “Huzzah” turned heads both for how dope it was as well as the promise it held for dirty Fondle ‘Em style hip-hop to be made today. Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire doesn’t give the slightest of fucks about any of this, which makes his music all the more refreshing. The exact midpoint between Camu Tao and Method Man, eXquire’s keeping things progressively dangerous live and on record.

Silent Knight

Intelligent without being overbearing, outspoken without being heavy handed, and brave without being boring, Silent Knight makes the type of hip hop an entire generation of underground revivalists have unsuccessfully attempted to. One of the few MCs to emphasize subtlety over showcasing, Knight brings a fresh sound to the hallmarks of New York underground rap that have for too long been glossed over or forgotten. Along with a stellar album in Busy is My Best Friend, Silent Knight’s live show is among the best today. A showman capable of rocking a party while maintaining an unforgettable intimacy, he’s a rapper’s rapper who will only continue to excel throughout the new year.

Nicki Minaj continues to see-saw between artistic lows (“Stupid Hoe”) and superstar highs, with high-profile awards appearances, and cross-genre songs and features, such as “Turn Me On,” the pulsating, club-friendly relative smash crafted by DJ/producer David Guetta. Anticipation for the visual counterpart to this high-energy, electro-pop offering from hip-pop’s reigning queen is heightened, with the release of a “teaser” video.

Nicki Minaj is not one to shy away from the macabre, as evidenced by her ghoulishly bipolar performance in “Monster,” the Kanye West, Jay-Z, Rick Ross collaboration which helped Minaj fight off much of the criticism leveled at her, where her pop-like personality and antics began to alienate her from more purist hip hop fans. “Turn Me On,” both in song and video, will do little to reclaim those who began sneaking out of her fanbase once she turned the corner from Southside Jamaica to Harajaku Barbieville, but for the legions of worldwide followers among tweens, the more open-minded, and phenomenon-watchers, the full-on, oddball mini-movie that “Turn Me On” is likely to be, should keep her flying high on the mainstream music landscape.

The full version is expected to drop January 31, but there is no clue as to how, or even if, Nicki Minaj will appear in this video, as the clip is as teasery as a teaser can be. In the meantime, if this type of music is not your cup of hip hop artist tea, feel free to swing on over to our January list of “10 Must See Videos By New York Area Hip Hop Artsists“… You’re bound to find something you like over there.

For all others, here’s your tease.

New York hip hop is made up of a variety of style and substance that no other rap region can match. From street-styled thug raps to hipster-friendly wordsmithing, from vintage boom-bap sounds to live band instrumentation, this depth is, in part, a reflection of the region’s inhabitants. New York hip hop is uniquely positioned, true melting pot music, as diverse as New York’s never-sleeping city and open-air outlying suburbs. This range can be seen in artists’ music video counterparts, some low budget and artsy, some high-budget, ready-for-BET affairs. Once again, we decided to sift through the dozens of videos from New York-area hip hop artists that cross our path on any given month, sharing some we feel are notable. This batch contains a few videos from late 2011, and a couple that are fresh out of the oven, but all are fairly recent examples that we think do a great job at visualizing the dynamic range of New York hip hop.

Darq ft. Amy Davis – R.A.W.

Let’s start right with this. If you are an underground/indie artist, and you are going to put together a video in an attempt to set yourself apart from the pack, this is one helluva way to do it. Many videos attempt to self-proclaim themselves “motion picture,” and don’t live up to the hype. This project however, directed extremely adeptly by Kristian Kruz, gives Darq Raw, a heavily grinding Bronx MC, a pretty fantastic calling card that should get people asking “Who is Darq Raw?” and certainly should have artists who are looking to make videos asking, “Who is Kristian Kruz?” Well done.

Check out photos from Freestyle Mondays 10 Year Anniversary event, held at 116 in Manhattan, on January 9, 2012.

When we first named Freestyle Mondays one of our “5 Reasons Why New York Hip Hop Doesn’t Suck,” we said:

For anyone who needs a proper introduction to (or reminder of) the wonderful world of artistry, entertainment, passion, fun and respect for jam session lyricism that lives in hip hop’s heart, you could find absolutely no better place to spend a Monday night.

The location may be changing once again, but the message of that statement remains as true as the day we wrote it. Freestyle Mondays, the weekly, musician-backed, open mic haven for hip hop lyricists with a penchant for impromptu rap, celebrates a decade of nearly continuous weekly sessions, starting 2012 in a new location, but with many of the same participants expected to be in the house.

Freestyle Mondays is led by two longtime hosts and co-organizers: iLLspoKinN, an artistically macho, experienced and charmingly enjoyable artist who continues to tour worldwide, and Mariella, a glowing chanteuse who sounds as at home in a rap groove as she does when performing R&B and jazz throughout NYC and the rest of the country.

Freestyle Mondays' hands-on hosts iLLspoKinN and Mariella

The combination of iLLspoKinN’s expertise at off-the-cuff rapping and engaging interaction with the crowd, and Mariella’s shimmering personality and hypnotic vocals, is an effective enough selling point for the showcase. Add to this a steadily impressive cast of highly competent jam musicians backing the duo (along with DJ MilkMoney holding down duties on the wheels of steel), the mixed-demographic, friendly audience and respectful, talented and (usually) enjoyable freestylers, and you have a winning formula, proven by the mere fact that we are talking about a ten year anniversary.

The vibe favors wordsmithing and verbal craftsmanship over roughneck posturing, but MCs of all persuastions are able to repeatedly rock the mic throughout the night. In general, less entertaining rappers will take the audience’s tempered enthusiasm as a hint, and disappear into the night, leaving the more adapt performers behind to entertain and enthrall.

Freestyle Mondays has spawned sister chapters in the Czech Republic and France, and the original incarnation remains a must-see event for fans of hip hop’s off-the-dome ingenuity, and a must-do rite of passage for any MC who values the sometimes-lost artform of freestyle rhyme.

The Freestyle Mondays 10 year anniversary will take place Monday, January 9, 2011 at the event’s new location, 116, located at 116 MacDougal St., between Bleeker and W. 3rd, New York City. The events begin at 10 p.m., and are free, but well-deserved donations will be collected throughout.

www.FreestyleMondays.com – www.facebook.com/freestylemondays
www.ustream.tv/channel/freestylemondays

A lot of folks are starting to hear Action Bronson’s name, in part due to the recently released, Statik Selektah-produced product Well Done, (which is, pun intended, pretty well done), and alongside Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Bronson and a few comrades hit up the stage at Highline Ballroom on Dec. 27th for a (very) smokey show of spiticism.

The folks over at Who Shot Ya? took a slew of shots, and provided a recap video of Action Bronson’s set, which included guests like Meyhem Lauren, AG Da Coroner, Statik Selektah and Smoke DZA. The animated set, in front of a packed house with many supporters, is worth scanning through, if you’re looking to get a little more insight into the currently buzzing Bronson.

Check Who Shot Ya? for flicks, and the performance video is below. Cop Well Done over on iTunes.

Action Bronson – Highline Ballroom from Brook Bobbins on Vimeo.

Too many people, particularly those who long for New York hip hop to “come back,” waste too much time complaining about today’s hip hop, when they could be using that time to discover good hip hop music from today’s New York-area artists.

Instead, they grumble about the current style and substance of mainstream hip hop, the R&B-influenced sound of Drake for example, or the lyrically simplistic style of some Southern rappers and the overall lack of traditional New York flavored hip hop on radio, stating with repeated disgust that “real” hip hop is dead and gone.

They lament the loss of the New York sound, nostalgically pining for 1990’s boom-bap sound that many of them grew up on, screwing up their face and dismissing any “Top 5, Dead or Alive” list that doesn’t include Jay-Z, B.I.G., Nas and Jadakiss.

All of which are fine opinions, but let’s be real about real.

Saying you want “real hip hop” back, is stupid. There is no “real” hip hop.

What you really mean to say, is that you miss traditional, New York sounding hip hop, a mix of grit and poetry, over beats that utilize chopped up samples, or soul music loops, accompanied by hard hitting, crispy drum sounds, for the most part floating around 88-92 beats per minute. A type of hip hop that was a nod to rap music’s early days, but with updated storytelling, increased lyrical prowess and advanced musical complexity. A hip hop that you once enjoyed while laying back, puffing an L, feeling an emotional twinge of invincibility tied to a feeling that these slick-talking rappers and hard-hitting beatsmiths were just like you. Artists that somehow packaged and delivered the collective feeling of living in New York into sounds and songs that stuck with you then, and continue to evoke feelings of euphoric nostalgia ever since.

THAT was “real” hip hop, right? What you hear on the radio today, that’s not “real,” right?

Wrong.

The problem is, you are selfish.

But it’s understandable. You are focused on a very short amount of time in hip hop’s lifespan and because it was a particularly formative time for you musically, you feel a certain way about that time period, and the music contained therein.

Your assertion that 1990s New York hip hop is covered under the umbrella of “real” hip hop, whereas “today’s” hip hop isn’t, is wrong, and is created by a combination of your particular taste in music and your respect for hip hop history, but mainly because of your psychological bias.

To be fair, it’s an age-old argument. When asked to pinpoint the best decade for music, people overwhelmingly respond by choosing a decade from their youth. This generally holds true across all genres and generations.

Your prejudice toward 1990s New York hip hop exists because that was likely the time that you were fully immersed in music, when music not only was something listened to constantly, but something to connect to.

Since then, life got in the way, and while hip hop evolved, you held on to your personal tastes, your preferred style. You listened to vinyl and cassettes and CDs in your collection. You ported over your songs to your iPod and replayed certain albums you had forgotten about. Sure, you still listened to what was new, but the time that you previously dedicated to absorbing everything new, became fractured.

You lost the ability to connect to new music, partially because you grew older. Mainstream music of course is specifically engineered to cater to a younger crowd, and because your time and energy was being spent elsewhere, your inclination to seek out music more along the lines of your musical tastes diminished as well.

Plus, you still had your favorite joints up in the iPod.

But young people, entering their own formative music-listening years, were still being hand-delivered hip hop, though what was now on the radio sounded a lot different than just a few years ago when you were coming up.

To be real, this was just a continuation of the evolution of hip hop, beyond your personal glory days, just as it had evolved from the Sugar Hill Gang-style rap from half a generation before you.

Now, a new batch of kids started immersing themselves with the prevalent hip hop of the day, which to them, no less “real” than the music you got into.

I mean, before we can criticize today’s hip hop as any less “real,” we must take an objective look at how different Mobb Deep or Snoop Dogg was from the Treacherous Three or the Fat Boys.

Understand the point?

Look, I know what you mean. But you have to get over it. The fact is, Drake IS real hip hop. So is Waka Flocka Flame. So is Tupac. And Biggie. And Run-DMC. And MC Lyte. And Kurtis Blow. And Melle Mel.

But to a 15 year old who grew up in Atlanta his whole life, having been exposed to the type of hip hop he is regularly exposed to, there is no way you can contend that to him, and others like him, his hip hop is not “real” hip hop.

It’s all “real.” It’s not all “real good,” but not every New York rapper in the 90s was either.

And don’t forget that in the 1990s, there were many less distribution channels. Less geographical hubs of rap music. New York hip hop was dominant in the 1990s because there were few places labels were culling hip hop talent from in the 1990s.

Once they figured out that there was an entirely different, underserved and undercapitalized market, the distribution companies (labels, radio, media) flocked to these untapped markets.

While it is true that for the most part they have yet to return, it does not mean that New York hip hop is dead.

It also does not mean that good New York hip hop has to sound exactly like it did in the 1990s.

To 1990s New York hip hop fans: I feel you. I am one of you. I am as pro-New York hip hop as anyone, but to be pro-New York hip hop does not mean we have to be anti-everywhere-else hip hop.

I also came up during the New York hip hop “Golden Era” of the 1990s but I am not stubbornly stuck in the musical past. By being open-minded to the evolution of hip hop, not wasting time crying over spilled rap milk, I have found plenty of New York-area artists of today, who satisfy my purist, old-school hip hop soul.

New York has always been a progressive city in terms of music, from jazz to musical theater, from punk to hip hop, magically infusing its artistic residents with an ability to create or advance music in ways no other place can. This continues today, as the bubbling New York hip hop underground is the center of our entire journalistic effort, and in that effort, we continuously come across sparks of new talent, artists who possess that same nod to rap’s earlier days, also with an updated storytelling, increased lyrical prowess and advanced musical complexity.

They are in your city. Some live on your block. They perform at venues all throughout the city, and for a few dollars, you can see them perform. Sure you’ll have to sit through a lot of mediocre artists first, but at least, unlike the radio, there’s a payoff at the end of these efforts, delivered by an artist of today that will at the same time invoke a pleasant feeling of nostalgia, mixed with a feeling that you’re hearing something new and fresh.

And if you let it, it will feel very, very real.

The XXL Magazine Freshmen Class has become a buzz-worthy yearly event in hip hop, a perceived rite of passage for up and coming artists, presumably to reward the efforts of their achieving notoriety on the upswing of their career. Though the long-term predictive ability of the list has been questioned by many as being less-than-clairvoyant, and in recent years, the lack of viable New York artists (rectified only slightly by last year’s nomination of Fred The Godson, and to a much lesser degree, Diggy Simmons), it appears as if XXL, feeling the heat of their own selective process, has introduced a new way to include, but not include, many other candidates.

XXL has opened up voting for a “Reader’s Choice,” and allowing for 50 of the “most mentioned names”  among their deliberations to be voted on by the public in an online poll, the results of which will be added to the magazine’s 9 official picks.

That’s cute and all, makes the public feel involved, but it also doesn’t make much sense. Are the actual 9 official choices also going to from the same pool? If that’s the case, isn’t the likliehood going to be that the public will also choose one of the official 9? If THAT’S the case, then is XXL going to have one of their official 9, ALSO be the Reader’s Choice? Or (more likely), they will pick either the highest voted, non-top-9 pick to fill that “Reader’s Choice” slot, or, just pick their own anyway, in either case, rendering the actual voice of the people, unheard.

Whatever the outcome, the result is obviously simply a play for online page views and to encourage spreading the Freshmen Class word among social networks, and will do little to offer any real addition to a list that already exists largely simply to create controversial discussion among hip hop debaters. That being said, we noted a couple of New York-area representatives in the mix (Action Bronson, A$AP Rocky, Emilio Rojas, French Montana, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Neako, Outasight, Reek Da Villian, Smoke DZA, The Kid Daytona among them), so we’ll see if any of our hometown folks make the cut.

If you feel like playing the game in advance of the April 2012 cover issue, swing on over to http://www.xxlmag.com/XXL-freshmen-2012/. Voting ends January 1st.

(And hey, vote for some New York cats just for the hell of it, even though we all know only A$AP Rocky and French Montana have any real shot.)

Say what you will about the popification of hip hop’s reigning Queen, Nicki Minaj, or the bubblegumness of rap royalty heiress Willow Smith (who apparently simply goes by “Willow” now), but when the child of one of the world’s biggest movie stars and one of the world’s biggest music stars team up to make a song and video, it’s a big deal.

In this case, it’s also a pretty big fail, all things considered.

Veteran video director Hype Williams uses the force of overused concepts and opens with dazzling special effects, which do nothing to distract from the impending doom of Willow’s doing her best (worst) Rhianna channeling and Minaj’s less-than-stellar contribution.

We’re happy to give both a pass, after all Willow is a kid, and Nicki is clearly playing much more to her demographic on “Fireball,” but that being said, Willow had an unquestionable pop hit with “Whip My Hair,” and Nicki Minaj is often much more dynamic on guest appearances, so to see each performer essentially phone it in, was a bit unexpected.

We’re sure dad and mom are proud, but it’s kinda like when your kid hits a home run in Little League, but really only scores because everyone on defense makes an error.

Overall, “Fireball” is a painfully uninspiring effort than may (thankfully) quickly extinguish, even among the follow-the-musical-leader youngens that the song is intended to be a hit with.

Homeboy Sandman, the inaugural recipient of our “5 Reasons Why New York Hip Hop Doesn’t Suck,” recently joined the roster of Stones Throw Records, the L.A.-based record label home to the likes of Madlib and J. Dilla. Homeboy Sandman’s first Stones Throw release, the jazzy “New York Nights,” will lead a forthcoming project between Stones Throw and Serato, while an LP is expected from the inimitable wordsmith in early 2012.

Speaking with Birthplace Magazine’s Steven Ortiz during the summer of 2011, Homeboy Sandman teased the label deal, and spoke about the importance of keeping creative control with his craft. Stones Throw, clearly a label that embraces eclecticism, is an apt home for Homeboy Sandman, a truly unique and immense talent, that happily exists just outside of the box.

“New York Nights” is produced by DFM, and is typical Homeboy Sandman, in that he spits clever lyrics over atypical, but healthily headnoddable beats, with a cadence and emphasis on alliteration that makes him stand out among everyday wordsmiths.

Check out Homeboy Sandman’s website and on the Stones Throw site for more information about this dynamic artist helping carry the torch for progressive New York hip hop.

(Originally peeped over at IHeartDilla).

Homeboy Sandman – New York Nights by stonesthrow

Veteran actor and New York native Michael Rapaport seems at peace as he fields questions from Q&A moderator Wes Jackson (Brooklyn Bodega) and the CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival faithful, after a special screening of Rapaport’s directorial ode to his favorite rap group, A Tribe Called Quest. The focused documentary, the first by Rapaport, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, takes a peek into the lives of members Q-Tip, Phife, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi and tries to answer the question that Rapaport and every fan of this revolutionary ground breaking group from St. Albans, Queens wants to know: Will A Tribe Called Quest make more music?

The film, which is now available on DVD and BluRay, has garnered many positive reviews, was well received at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals and took home the audience award for Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival, however the months leading up to and including the release was fraught with drama.

When a leaked, unfinished trailer premiered online in early 2011 painting the group’s relationship as being seriously flawed, it ignited a war of tweets among Rapaport and the group. This led to the group nearly revoking support for the project, crushing Rapaport and threatening to derail the positive vibe that fans were feeling, eagerly awaiting the release. The documentary eventually did find its way into theaters in the summer of 2011, and in general, moviegoers reported that the film was worth the wait.

SAVE THE DRAMA

Rapaport admits that 2011 was some of the most tumultuous and trying times of his career. A lifelong fan of ATCQ, Rapaport was honest, revealing and held nothing back as he answered questions and spoke at length about the creative process behind the movie to the audience gathered at Chelsea Cinema in New York City.

The spark for the documentary was lit when Rapaport attended ATCQ’s final live performance in 1998. He remembers having a conversation remarking how great it would be for someone to do a documentary on a ATCQ, an idea of his that simply manifested itself and got bigger and bigger. “Making a documentary is challenging,” Rapaport told the audience, “It’s not an easy thing. Nothing is handed to you. The technical and financial aspects of it are a grind. It is a grind from beginning to end.”

When asked by Jackson why the movie starts so dramatically, Rapaport explained that this was the atmosphere he was exposed to when he started filming the group back in 2008. “The dysfunction that I saw was very apparent from the first day of filming. I wanted to start the film by showing what my reality was.”

To see that they were human and had flaws like most relationships do was an eye opener for Rapaport. To him, ATCQ always had this “intangible quality of positivity, and their music was uplifting.” It became a movie about relationships, because the relationships within ATCQ were similar to countless other dysfunctional relationships. There are not always going to be fun times. There will be discord and hostility. Rapaport believed that seeing ATCQ behave as normal people, showed that despite their seemingly superhero music star status, there was genuine humanity at work.

By immediately segueing into the colorful and captivating animation by James Blagden (who was in attendance and received a nice round of applause), Rapaport wanted to keep the audience off balance, thinking it would have been too predictable to start the film the way people thought he might. Ultimately, one of Rapaport’s main reasons for making the film was to find out if ATCQ would be making more music, without trying to explain whether they should or why they shouldn’t record new music. The question was: When would they?

GET THAT OLD FEELING BACK?

“You never want to let go. You want to go back and relive that, but you can’t. Things move forward and you can’t,” lamented Rapaport. “You are never going to hear ‘Bonita Applebum’ on the radio for the first time. It’s changed. I think [the group members] understand the legacy and what it means to fans and as artists. I think they are smart enough to understand if they are going to do it, it’s going to be different. I think A Tribe Called Quest has run its course. Beatles ran its course. The Supremes, Destiny’s Child. There are so few groups in any genre of music that have ever stayed together for the long haul. The Rolling Stones did it and you listen to them talk. ‘I wanted to fucking kill Mick Jagger.’ Keith Richards said that. They get together a lot of times, just to perform. It’s not what you think as fans, that Mick and Keith are always hanging out. They’re not. Q-Tip and Phife are not always hanging out.”

Reflecting over the controversy over what the movie would show onscreen, Rapaport stated that he believed he made a movie that was far more honest and revealing than anyone expected. He explained that to this day he has not been in the same room with all four ATCQ members. Rapaport screened the movie for them separately and they all seemed fine with it, but the leak and subsequent war of tweets suggested that ATCQ was not in full support of their own documentary.

“I can’t speak on the group’s behalf,” said Rapaport. “When I first screened the movie for the guys, I was the hero… The bottom line is that things happened. I wish the guys were here now. Pearl Jam just released their documentary, and they were all standing there taking pictures. The fact that the guys haven’t supported the movie as a group has more to do with the dysfunction of ATCQ than Michael Rapaport. They haven’t recorded an album since 1998. I wasn’t a part of that. ATCQ is done as far as now and that happened long before I even stepped to them about making the movie. All that missed communication and confusing information has nothing to do with me. I know my part and I know my intentions and I know why I made the movie. I know I went out of my way to protect and respect the legacy of ATCQ as gentlemen, as people and as a group. If the material I shot was in the hands of 99.9% of other directors hands, it comes out a different movie. It wouldn’t be as good. It would be more ‘reality show’.”

One of the most surprising things Rapaport encountered was Phife’s health condition. While he had some sort of idea that Phife was a diabetic, he had no idea how serious his condition was. Rapaport didn’t even think there was a chance he would discuss it, but Phife ended up being so open and candid about his health that Rapaport knew this would be a big part of the film. Not only was it a serious issue that was going on during filming, but Phife had been dealing with diabetes for the last 16 years, which affected and fractured the group dynamic. Phife missed shows when he was sick, a point highlighted in the film when an early 1990s Dennis Miller TV appearance shows only Q-Tip and Ali on stage, Phife having pulled out at the last minute due to his illness.

Jackson, himself an ATCQ fan, asked Rapaport about keeping the camera on in moments of conflict. Rapaport explained, “When it was the most uncomfortable, I knew that it was time to step up and be the documentary film maker. I was very aware of that. The stuff with Tip, Ali and Maseo ranting in the dressing room in Seattle. They were in one dressing room and Phife was in another dressing room. They were about to do a show. I was shooting it by default, because I was the only one they let in there. It was very uncomfortable. I’ve been in relationships that have been flawed and fractured my whole life, but to see others do it… My place wasn’t to judge them or fix it, but just to document. I knew the most uncomfortable, vulnerable time was the time to keep the camera on. I would never intentionally let things get out of hand or disrespect the legacy of ATCQ or disrespect them as individuals. Too much information sometimes is not necessary in the film. You don’t need every single detail of this argument or this beef.”

“I’m not going to figure it out,” he continued. “There is no answer.”

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

The immense editing process that Rapaport went through to get this film released in a relatively concise, 97-minute long package, was daunting, but once he decided that this movie was just going to be about these four individuals, the editing process became easier. “You shoot, you shoot and shoot and you realize that you got some stuff you didn’t plan on, you didn’t get some stuff that you planned. You get these moments of gratification and these other movements of utter horror and fear when you’re saying, ‘How am I going to do this?’ I knew in the editing room that there were certain things I had to cut, because I only had 97 minutes to tell the story. Some things had to go. Consequence’s involvement in the group had to go. J Dilla’s involvement had to go. Busta Rhymes was a blink in the movie. I was aware of that.”

There were many interesting stories to be told, but Rapaport had to make choices.

“Just from four people it becomes enough, without everyone else. The film had to be about the four guys and A Tribe Called Quest. I couldn’t put in anything else. Once I had the framework, it had to be about the guys. We shot 100 hours of footage. We can’t touch on Zulu Nation for just three minutes. We need to do a whole film about that. It was too much to process. It had to be story driven. You want to go forward you want to go deeper. It’s all about pushing the story forward. I’m not doing a whole thing on everyone. You have to make choices. You have to what’s best for the film. If its not story driven, it has to go.”

An audience member posed this question: “What do you want people that are not familiar with A Tribe Called Quest to take away?”

Rapaport answered, “I hope that people who aren’t familiar with ATCQ walk away learning about one of the most important groups to make music in the last 30 years of any genre. One of things that I’m most proud about is that in my opinion, it breaks down the stereotype of what a hip hop artist is. These guys didn’t make music because they were selling drugs and wanted to get out of it. They never got shot. They’re good guys from good families. They’re musicians and you see them as very human vulnerable guys, and if you know nothing about hip hop except for the stereotypes, this will definitely change that. For me personally, I’m enormously proud to be a part of broadening and showing what hip hop is about and who hip hop artists are.”

Rapaport continued, “I’m lucky to be doing what I’m doing. I’ve been doing it for 20 years now as an actor. I’m fortunate especially this day and age. Documentary filmmaking is not something you do for money. There is no big pile of money, no pile of gold at the end of the rainbow. Michael Moore, Inconvenient Truth… That’s lightning striking. I made this movie for love, my love of music, of hip hop and A Tribe Called Quest. We’ll be lucky and happy if we make a few bucks, but nobody is getting rich off this and we all knew that from the beginning. I didn’t make this film alone. I had a great team around me. It was a passion project. I’m fortunate to be in a place where I had the time and the money to do a passion project in this day and age. I’m humble about that. I’m humble that I was able to have the means to make the film and finance it myself in the beginning and have other people get involved”

EPILOGUE

Personally, I enjoyed the documentary, but then again I’m a huge Tribe fan. While I feel many questions were left unanswered, Michael Rapaport did a commendable job with what he had access to. A Tribe Called Quest is certainly worthy of a Ken Burns-esque treatment, but Rapaport was nevertheless able to present a piece of cohesive filmmaking that delivers ATCQ like we have never seen before. Could it have gone a little deeper? Sure, but Michael Rapaport’s honest and open insight into working with one of the most entertaining rap groups to ever touch the stage was refreshing. Be sure to cop the DVD. The deleted scenes and extras, as well as the Director’s commentary, also provide a lot more answers.

Birthplace Magazine got a chance to ask the last two questions of the night, and Rapaport was kind enough to compliment my sneakers.

What is your favorite Tribe album and why?

My favorite, it’s hard to pick one, but I think Midnight Marauders encompasses everything that the first two classic albums (People’s Instinctive Travels, The Low End Theory) did and takes it to the next level. Midnight Marauders is special.

What about Madlib’s involvement in the movie?

Madlib was a no brainer. I wanted to have somebody do the music that was inspired by ATCQ and Madlib, I knew that before I ever met him, that he was inspired. You could hear it in his music. I used the first person I wanted to have do the music and he said yes.

I see your kicks there… You got the green, black and red Tribe joints. That’s beautiful.

Thank you. Appreciate it!