ATCQ Doc Green Lighted, “[It’s] Like Being Signed By The NY Yankees”

Written By S. Samuel

Film director Michael Rapaport's new A Tribe Called Quest documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life has reportedly been picked up and acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.

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Confirming the power move, Rapaport shared his reaction to Sony’s acquirement.

“I couldn’t be more excited and proud that BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. As a first time filmmaker to have the support of SPC is like being signed by the NY Yankees. Telling this story was not only a labor of love, but also the most fulfilling accomplishment of my career,” states Michael Rapaport. (Indie Wire)

In January, Rapaport spoke on initially having the support of Tribe member Q-Tip.

As Rapaport explained to us the next day while watching the Packers game with Phife, he’d shown the movie to Q-Tip multiple times. “From what he told me, he loves the movie. He thinks it’s going to be hugely successful, critically acclaimed. You can quote that … And one day he just decided he didn’t like it. I don’t know. I’m not sure what happened.” And since then, the two of them have only communicated through the media and Twitter. Even so, Rapaport bought Q-Tip and Jarobi White, who also didn’t show, two first-class tickets each to come to Park City and booked them hotel rooms. (The fourth member, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, had a prior engagement in Europe, but both Rapaport and Phife think he would have come.) And he was still hopeful they might come, until they didn’t. As Rapaport explained, “A Tribe Called Quest has been broken up. I deal with them individually. I’ve never been in a room with all four of them. I think they’re all grown men They’re all adults. They all make decisions on their own. So why Phife came here, he wanted to be here. And why the other guys didn’t come here, they didn’t want to be here.” (New York Mag)

A few weeks prior, Rapaport broke silence on Q-Tip airing out his frustrations publicly.

“I think the reason he did his little Twitter thing was because he realized that the movie was coming to completion and going to get seen by people,” Rapaport explained in an interview. “I can’t really speak for him but I think he got a little nervous. He’s very protective of the legacy of A Tribe Called Quest and the movie is a very honest depiction of my time with them and the information that I was given in interviews and content…He was speaking on behalf of himself and his biggest request was to be protective of the legacy of Tribe. So when the film was coming to completion, he got a little bit nervous because he wants to be seen in a certain way.” (RapFix)

This eventually ignited a response from Tip a few days later.

“speaking of 1nce again… here i some tribe chat the director of the film cannot speak to what is in my head abt the documentary . nor can this director EVER say the i dont speak for the group. when i say i do then belive me i do … tribe is no different than any other collective. we experience bumps bruises and disagreements then and we still do. but knowing our history and our messages in our music we will NEVER be taken advantage of like we were in the past. we dont care who it is. but we are truly thankful for your interest in our music and your interest in this flattering look at our career.” (Q-Tip’s Twitter)

Check out a review of the film down below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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