Beats, Rhymes & Life

A reflective review of the movie- Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.

Those three words pretty much sum it up.
The quest for the right beats to unleash meaningful rhymes that both reflect and project life.

Much of my musical taste and outlook on life has been shaped by the musical group A Tribe Called Quest. It's laced in my writing, often referenced in my arguments and is imbued in my swag.

The dichotomy created by the varying elements of this eclectic hip-hop group represent the complexity that comes with knowledge of self. For instance, balancing the duality of being beholden to nurtured Afrocentrism, while the unyielding enlightenment causing acquiescence to mainstream society prevails.

Stepping out on a limb, I'll say this is the only movie I have ever watched where I was literally smiling from ear to ear throughout. Even when I was about to cry. Not because I'm like the crazed fans I recall seeing pour tears at the sight of Michael Jackson, rather because there is something about my connection with the music they make that hits my core.

There was a reason why it never felt right for me to step into the starting blocks of a single high school track meet without first listening to nearly all of the Midnight Marauder TAPE. "Aiyyo swing, swing, swing to chop, chop, chop..." always happened right before the 110s.

There is a reason why I can visualize neighborhoods in New York that I have never visited. Although I don't, I too represent Linden Boulevard.

Having made the cross country trip, solo, by vehicle, at least 5 times in the past decade and having lived in 5 states, mostly as an adult, my life has been an Award Tour. And for that the Tribe has laid much of my life's soundtrack. Much of the rest they have either been influenced by or they have in-turn influenced.

Such is the case for my current local link to the film. Oxnard native Madlib did the score for the movie. Wait a minute, a cat from Oxnard, where I currently live, of all places, was tapped to do the music for what turned out to be more than a documentary about my all-time favorite hip hop group?

During the documentary when the movie's director, Michael Rapaport asks the question of on-again-off-again group member Jarobi White, "What's the hardest thing about being in a group?" His answer - "Constantly considering someone else even before yourself," that, in my view, was one of the most introspective moments of the film. Not only is that a universal theme of generic relationships, it is a struggle that has plagued many before them and likely many to follow.

The Tribe remained relevant through my formative years partly because of their conscious and whimsical wordplay. I would argue that your mind processes differently when listening to music from the Native Tongue era.

In retrospect of their break up and upon witnessing the chemistry that I only got to see on stage first hand once - Rock the Bells 2008 at the Gorge (footage is in the film) - I question, could the Tribe regain relevance in a society inundated with images of sex, drugs and violence? As a culture as a movement, hip hop has evolved, but the guidance of our more wise and conscious elders could remain useful in the game.

Now if they would only listen to their own words,
Phife: You on point Tip
Q-Tip: All the time Phife
Phife: Then play the resurrector and give the dead some life.

James Joyce III is based in Southern California and saw the film during the opening weekend at the sole west coast theater showing the movie at the time.