S. Samuel
A Tribe Called Quest frontman Q-Tip has once again expressed his angst over the release of an upcoming documentary based on his crew and specifically responded to recent remarks made by the film's director, Michael Rapaport.
Writing on his Twitter page, Tip defended himself and stressed how he wouldn’t allow for the ATCQ image to be tarnished in any way.
“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)
Last weekend, Rapaport discussed Tip airing out his initial 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.” (Rap Fix)
Rapaport also emphasized how much respect he has for Tribe.
“I adore ATCQ and my intention wasn’t to ever make them feel uncomfortable but my intention was never to make a fluff piece so we kind of hit a bump in the road,” he said. “And we promoted [the film together]. Q-Tip and me were on the radio talking about ‘This is going to be the real story of A Tribe Called Quest.’ When I say ‘the real story’ that doesn’t mean that there’s going to be crazy sh–. I didn’t unveil any secrets. From what I’ve learned Q-Tip and Phife have known each other their whole lives and they are like a family. And like any family, like any group — the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, EPMD, Public Enemy — they’ve had bumps in the road. I just think that because A Tribe Called Quest is so precious to fans, they were concerned about unveiling some of those things.” (Rap Fix)
Last month, Tip explained his initial frustrations with the film.
“I can’t really go too much into it, but what I will say is, a lot of people, when they look at that, they automatically assume I’m speaking just as the subject, that I’m not supporting it ’cause I ain’t like it,” Q-Tip said in an interview with radio personality Elliott Wilson. “I’m a producer [of] the film, Tribe is a producer [of] the film. I’m speaking for the whole group…Different things need to be done edit-wise. The sentiment of the film is there, 80 percent is there, it’s just not done.” (Shade 45)
Check out some recent A Tribe Called Quest footage down below:
