Kendrick Lamar, André 3000, and Chuck D Paid Tribute to Phife Dawg on Q-Tip's Abstract Radio

Artists like Pharrell, Andre 3000, Chuck D, and Kendrick Lamar all recorded tributes to Phife Dawg

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Last night, Q-Tip hosted his regular Abstract Radio show on Beats 1 and took the opportunity to pay a proper and touching tribute to his departed friend, and A Tribe Called Quest band mate Phife Dawg. Tip fittingly kicked off the two-hour show with a blended studio/live version of the song "Oh My God" before mixing together a collection of hits, deep cuts, and rarities mixed with a number of recorded drops from some of hip-hop's biggest names. 

“The world lost Phife, but Phife himself actually gained the universe. He is now with the master, entrenched and enmeshed in the best chords…in heaven," Pharrell said. "You’re an icon you’re an influence you’re and inspiration and your present on this plane..gonna miss having you here boy," Just Blaze added. Big Boi revealed that, "Phife actually came by the studio a little while ago and just kind of vibed out…a great person. He’ll definitely be missed by the world, and definitely myself and my family. Then André 3000 went on a lengthy tribute to five-foot assassin and Tribe.

“A Tribe Called Quest is everything, everything to me. There will not be no Outkast without A Tribe Called Quest. It was everything to me in high school, just listening to Q-tip run the verses. And I remember being really interested in vocabulary. He actually made me want to know more about words and use them as tools. Like, words that you may have not even know before. He made it actually cool to use those words. There was a point where I was listening to Tribe in High School and there was a point where a lyric–Tip was saying 'Like getting stomach aches when ya gotta go to work / Or staring into space when you’re feeling berserk / I don’t really mind if it’s over your head / Cuz the job of resurrectors is to wake up the dead / So pay attention, it’s not hard to decipher / And after the horns, you can check out the Phifer.'

Kendrick Lamar also had a lot of thoughts on Phife.

“Checking in for the late great, the legendary Phife Dawg. Me being one of the new cats, all I can remember is either listening to gangster rap or Low End Theory. So it’s only right that I pay homage to Phife and Tribe. If i go back to being five, six years old, I remember being acquainted with the legendary, and it was a record by the name of “Scenario”. The flow was crazy, the beat was crazy, but one line stuck out out me in particular the...the line in particular: 'I’m all that and then some short dark and handsome / Bust a nut inside your eye, to show you where I come from.'

As did Public Enemy's Chuck D.

“Full-out salute to my brother Phife. Little brother Phife Dawg, a hip-hop rap world warrior. He lived and breathed hip-hop. The man’s a social narrator along with the world-legendary all-time A Tribe Called Quest. What aa team along with Q-Tip, along with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, along with Jarobi. Team player in the game and really from Queens, these kings. Even had the first lady salute as well. Shout out to my man Phife, the warrior. Peace. A Tribe Called Quest forever.”

For a full playlist of the songs Tip put together check it out here, and listen to the whole show below.

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