As one third of the legendary hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, Phife, aka the 5 Footer, is one of the industry’s most respected emcees. Since Tribe’s disbanding in 1998 each member went their own way and released their own projects. With one album left on their Jive Records contract as a trio, for years they’ve been at the centre of discussion regarding said album.

Add to this the recent documentary, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest, filmed by Michael Rapaport, publicly portraying the reasons behind the breakup and temporarily answering any questions about the group’s future, and you’ve got a band with more than its fair share of controversy. Promoting the documentary in the UK, TaleTela caught up with Phife.

Discussing his ill health, at the hands of diabetes, and recovery, as well as talking about topics such as sports lockouts, pigeonholing, and his forthcoming solo album, this is an interview you’ll not want to miss...

You’ve been travelling Europe promoting the A Tribe Called Quest Documentary, as well as playing a few shows here and there. How would you say the reception has been?

The reception has been great, real great, I have no complaints. It’s been lovely.

We saw you at the first London show in Koko’s. You looked like you were enjoying yourself...

Yeah I did. I definitely enjoyed myself. London is one of my favourite places to come to overseas. So with that said I always have a ball. It’s something I look forward to and I am yet to be disappointed.

Your tour consists of the Tribe documentary being screened and then immediately afterwards you come out on stage and rock the crowd. Was this your idea or did it come from somewhere else?

It was pretty much 100% my DJ, Rasta Roots. The promoters pretty much stepped to him and let him know what was going on. He then either gives it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Then he’ll call me and let me know what’s happening and we make moves. It’s real simple.

What was great about it was how quick you appeared on stage as soon as the documentary came to a close. No one was left waiting. It was very professional...

You know what man? I’m all about the fans. You have a lot of divas in the game and things of that nature, but the one thing you don’t want to do is upset the fans. As long as they’ve been supporting us the last thing I want to do is keep them waiting like that. I don’t get to come to London as often as I’d like so why keep them waiting? It’s like, “Ok, let’s get this party started.”

It’s like you just said, it’s unusual for most to watch a movie and then have a concert right after. It’s not like you’re gonna see Barbara Streisand do her greatest hits after watching Meet The Fockers. So I think it’s a blessing to have this film and then to be able to perform, whether with the group or on my own. So I wanted to be able to embrace it and take advantage of the opportunity.

The documentary was shot over two years ago. What’s changed since then for you?

Well I got my [kidney] transplant for one. That was the biggest change. Since the documentary... I didn’t really wanna do another album. I just wanted to produce. The only way I would have done any album would have been a Tribe album, and we’re far away from that. However, during the filming I caught the bug. I took a trip to New York once or twice and caught the bug. And [the director] Michael Rapaport was one of the people that was like, “You gotta do it. We wanna hear from y’all but we also wanna hear from you.” So that’s one of the reasons why I continued to do it along with a couple of other people in my life telling me I should do it. That was the biggest change since the documentary was filmed.

You’ve probably seen the documentary yourself a hundred times or more. Do you still catch feelings off of watching it or has it all become numb to you now?

I’m tired of watching it. I’m sick of it.

So you haven’t been watching it before you go on stage?

[Rasta Roots] made me watch it the other night. He’s something else. At first he wanted me to watch it because he was like, “You don’t understand. It goes a long way if people can say they watched the movie with Phife Dawg.” And I’m looking at him like, “Ain’t nobody watching no movie with Phife Dawg. They won’t notice me way at the back.” That’s just us messing around. But I get where he’s coming from so it becomes a no brainer after a while.

As far as A Tribe Called Quest goes, you guys still have one album left on your contract with Jive. Have you guys moved anywhere with it?

We’re stuck. We’re in one position like, “Huh? Uh... What’s going on?” So I have no idea.

Who are you waiting on?

The rest of the guys.

So you’re ready to go?

To be honest I don’t even know if I’m ready to go. You should ask [Rasta Roots] that question.

(To Rasta Roots) Is Phife ready to go with the Tribe album?

Phife’s pretty much always ready to go. If it’s about moving forward and progression he’s pretty much the one that’s always ready. It’s usually everything else but him [that holds things up]. Some conversations need to happen but he’s down to do it. With the shows and supporting the movie. He practically supported the movie by himself. 

(Back to Phife) Is Jarobi going to be a part of the new album?

(Shrugs)

But you guys are still really tight right?

Yep, absolutely.

After seeing the documentary over and over again, is there anything you would have done differently, whether it relates to the documentary, the group, or your career as a whole?

That’s a very good question because I was just thinking about that last night. Would I do something differently? Yeah, and the difference would be... and I don’t mean this is a disrespectful way - you gotta be careful how you say things, I don’t know if I’d be, because I’ve sacrificed a lot to be a part of this group to the point where I’d always put me on the back burner, I don’t think I’d put me on the back burner as much. That’s one of the things I regret. At the end of the day I don’t feel like anybody else would do that in order for [others] to progress, whether in the group or outside of the group... whatever the case may be. Now, am I grateful for what the group was able to achieve? Yeah, I am. But at the same time I feel like we lost out on a lot, or I lost out on a lot because of this group.

You understand what I’m saying? Like I said, I love the fans. The group is a gift and a curse. The fans love us so much they really don’t wanna hear no solo stuff, at least in America that’s what it is. They don’t wanna hear no solo stuff. See Wu-Tang was able to do that. Outkast was able to do that. Tribe weren’t ever really able to do that on that same level. It’s the group and nothing but the group. Case closed. Sometimes we laugh about it and sometimes I just shake my head about it like, “Damn! Why can’t you love this [solo stuff] over here and then come back to this [group stuff] over here?”

We hear that a lot in the UK. We interviewed Affion Crockett a while back and he mentioned that he would love to do a hip-hop album with 9th Wonder but says it wouldn’t work in the US. However he thinks he could bring it over to the UK and it would work, and it probably would...

He’s a funny guy. However, they’re too busy looking at him as a comedian, on Wild ‘N Out and all that. The same thing happened with Jamie Foxx. For the longest it took him a minute to get his music out because he had the sitcoms, the stand-up, and the movies. He’s such a great actor, whether it’s a funny role or not, and he’s just so talented. But a lot of time in America they try to pigeonhole you in to a particular box. When I first heard Jamie Foxx’s [J Records] debut I was flawed. I was blown back. You always saw stuff on The Jamie Foxx Show where he would play the piano and stuff.

You could see that he had talent. Unforgettable had a bunch of rappers on it, and it took that for people to really notice he had skills. So once I heard that I went back and checked [his official debut] Peep This and was like, “Yeah, this guy has skills all across the board.” He’s probably one of the most talented people in the world as far as acting, singing... he could probably emcee if he wanted to. But that’s what America is known for. They’re not trying to give people a chance. You have to spoon feed them all the way through.

Touching upon your solo work, you mentioned on stage that you have a new project coming out. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

It’s called Cheryl’s Big Son: The Anomaly. And I mean anomaly as in bend all rules. I bounce to the beat of my own drum so to speak. I’m on my own mission. I don’t follow what anybody else is doing or rules for that matter. That’s what I mean by anomaly. So you have [Q-Tip as] The Abstract and [Phife as] The Anomaly. The tall, the short. The nasal, the raspy. The album is pretty much my story and how I see things. it’s almost like when Raphael Saadiq came out with The Way I See It. The album was originally called Songs in the Key of Phife, but I had that title for a while and it’s a new day. So you wanna move forward. So I left that title in the dust and came up with this one right here.

The album doesn’t really have any real concept. It’s a bunch of different concepts. The album is basically me having fun - there’s a couple of party records, a couple of melancholy records, you know? There’s a couple of records just to make you think? There’s a couple of records just to roll a blunt to. You know what I’m saying? But at the end of the day I hope everybody walks away enjoying it. That’s what I hope. I also have a three part story on the album talking about what I went through with my health issues and things of that nature. So just like the movie - you laugh, you cry, you laugh again.

Being that you don’t have a major label push, and the only people selling records are those with huge commercial appeal, are you going to find it hard to push your album or are you not that concerned?

Nobody’s really selling records these days outside of Eminem, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye [West], or Chris Brown. You know what I’m saying? There’s a select few out there that sell without a glitch. Everybody else may have issues every now and then no matter how hot or whack the record may be. There’s just certain things that you can control and certain things that you probably can’t. So I just wanna put out the best possible product and it’ll go from there. So I’m not really that worried about it.

You premiered some of your new material at the Koko show. One of the tracks had a real Kanye West feel to it because of the production. Did he produce on your album?

Nah. The kid that was with me on stage, my hype man Snack Box, he produced that record. It has the Aretha Franklin sample. I mean... Kanye’s been known to flip a couple of Aretha Franklin records as well. That’s probably where the similarity is. Kanye’s very soulful, or he started off very soulful. Nowadays his sound is very big and broad, like a stadium sound. You could go to Wembley or Madison Square Garden and appreciate his sound. He was once very soulful. My man Snack Box is very soulful as well. He’s soulful with a hint of reggae. He has the whole west indian blend and I’m the same with my production. It’s the kind of music I grew up on so I feel very comfortable being in pocket with that particular type of sound.

Touching upon your hype man, you’re championing him as an artist also. Tell us a little bit about him...

His name is Lel, that’s his stage name, but we call him Snack Box because he’s always got a Twix or some kind of candy in his mouth. He’s from San Jose, California. I knew his uncle. His uncle always used to tell me that he makes beats and things of that nature but I was sick at the time. So what I did was give him my MPC1000 and was like, “Yo, take this and do what you do.” So I gave him a little beat machine and within a year or so his whole sound was completely graduated to a whole new level. So by the time I got my transplant I was ready to rock and roll as far as producing. I’d go to his crib, he’d come to my crib, and we’d just be banging out mad beats. Next thing you know I’d be on the Blackberry writing to his beats, and ‘Sole Men’ was one of the first beats that I wrote to, and we both have a love of sneakers so I also told him to write a verse for the track. That’s how the album started.

Is he doing an album on his own spitting?

He wanted to but then he rethought his process and decided to do a compilation album. He just wants to produce.

You and Q-Tip both released debut solo projects around the same time. Why do you think his outdid yours sales-wise in a time when sales were still happening and you were both the voice of A Tribe Called Quest?

Nobody really felt like Phife should have been doing a solo album. They look at [Q-Tip] as a front man, so automatically it’s like he gets those accolades off the top. People are like, “Oh, I expect [Q-Tip] to do a solo album.” When to be honest A Tribe Called Quest was one of those things where it was supposed to be about growth. When I say growth I don’t just mean with our sound or our product but Tribe was supposed to grow as individuals. It’s like you look at the Wu-Tang [Clan]. They were all a bunch of individuals who veered off on their own but were all able to come back to do the collective thing. You know what I’m saying? De La Soul, they introduced Mos Def to the world, and a couple of different producers.

EPMD introduced K-Solo, Keith Murray, Das EFX and Redman to the world. New Edition introduced BBD, Ralph Tresvant as a soloist, Johnny Gill as a soloist, Bobby Brown as a soloist, and then Michael Bivins veered off and introduced the world to Boyz II Men. You understand me? This has been going on since the beginning of time. But when you really go back and look at it, who did A Tribe Called Quest introduce to the world besides J Dilla? So nobody really expected me to do an album. I guess you could say it wasn’t something they were looking forward to. To their surprise the album was alright. They were like, “He could probably do albums on his own.” So it was unexpected by most. Plus, Ventilation didn’t get the support or backing that it necessarily needed. Me personally, I was in a bad place. It was rushed out. It wasn’t done correctly. No excuses. That’s just how it happened.

It was distributed by the German company Groove Attack. Why not an American company, like your group label Jive?

You know what? Originally I had signed a contract with Jive but that contract was an insult as far as me going solo goes. It was an insult because again they didn’t believe in me. So it was like, “If you don’t believe in me why are you giving me this contract?” That was their way of trying to break me. That was them basically saying, “You don’t need to do another solo album.” They should have just said that from the beginning. Now of course I wouldn’t have agreed, but what’s the big deal? They’re a mega company. Who cares if I agree or not? I’d just move on and do what I gotta do in order to put it out if they were that adamant about the whole situation.

Instead of just keeping it real and saying, “We don’t think you’re ready to do a solo album,” they tried to give me the crapiest contract available so I could walk away sulking and question myself - “Maybe I shouldn’t do it. Maybe I’m not built for this.” I’m not a chump. I’m a New Yorker. I’ve seen worse. People are dying and falling like flies. Do you think I give a damn about somebody saying, “No you’re not ready to go solo,” when I know that I am? It was little stuff like that [that made me go with Groove Attack].

As the documentary shows, you went through a lot health-wise. You needed to have a kidney transplant, which your wife donated, because of your diabetes. You mention that you like to grab a soda every now and then, even if you’re not supposed to. Do you still get the urge to do that?

I might still grab a soda from time to time for the simple fact that as a diabetic what you want is for your sugar levels to be within a certain range, and that range is from 80 to 120. Once it goes past 150 that’s red flags. What you don’t want is for it to go below 80. Once you get in to the 50‘s the worse feeling is when you bottom out. That’s when I grab the soda to get that quick jolt of sugar, or a piece of cake. You don’t want that to happen while you’re driving or while you’re sleeping. That’s the worse. Do you remember the actress Nell Carter?

Of course. She starred in Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper...

She was a diabetic. I remember her telling a story of how her eyesight started giving way while she was driving. It was very dangerous obviously. And all of that probably stems from her sugar levels being too high or too low. You don’t ever want that to happen. The easiest way to handle that is to obviously remember to take your medicine. However, you don’t wanna take too little and you don’t wanna take too much. So what you do is test your sugar level four times a day - before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner, before bed. Your medication should always be some sort of sliding scale. So after a while you get used to it, your body especially gets used to it, and if you regulate it correctly then everything will be normal. 

Having a bit of fun, if you could form a modern day A Tribe Called Quest, that didn’t feature yourself or any of the other members of the original group, who would you choose and why?

Kanye, Pharrell and Mos Def. I’d say because in A Tribe Called Quest you had two main producers - Q-Tip and Ali [Shaheed Muhammad]. So that’s Kanye and Pharrell. Pharrell also brings harmony to the game while Kanye spits for the most part. Then with Mos Def, he’s one hell of a spitter that also brings harmony to the game. That’s the dynamic three right there. 

You’re a part of an incredible musical legacy while also being a legendary spitter in your own right. Does it still dumbfound you to this day the amount of love you receive or have you gotten used to it?

I’m still blown back by the constant love that we get. I mean I’ve been saying this since we’ve been on tour - I never knew it was gonna be this big. I never knew we’d have a hard time putting out solo stuff because [the fans] love us as a group so much. I never knew it would be this huge. I’m definitely thankful and humbled by the accolades and what have you, but I am especially humbled by at the fact that we still get love years after not doing anything together. We’re still treated like we’re Young Money/Cash Money now, because it’s definitely YMCMB’s time right now. So for us to still be getting that type of love as if we had the hottest product out on the block, that’s nothing but a blessing, and my Grandmother always taught me to count my blessings. So here I am. I couldn’t be happier about the love that we continue to receive.