Big Boi on Outkast/A Tribe Called Quest Album: “It Definitely Was Happening”

Written by Taylor Berman | June 27, 2017 - 8:55 am

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JUNE 23: Rapper Andre 3000 (R) speaks onstage as (L-R) Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, mother of the late rapper Phife Dawg, rappers Q-Tip, Jarobi White, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest accept the ASCAP Golden Note Award during the 2016 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on June 23, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images)

In an interview on Hot 97 last week, Big Boi said Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest were working on a collaboration album until Phife Dawg’s death last year derailed the project.

“Q-Tip flew to Atlanta with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, we all met at Dre’s house,” Big Boi told hosts Laura Stylez and Peter Rosenberg. “We got to the point of picking out beats for the album. Then, some kind of way, everybody started doing stuff, and then Phife… you know. It definitely was happening, though.”

As Vibe notes, Andre 3000 also mentioned the collaboration during Phife’s memorial service last year, saying the project “was on our plate and we just… let it go for our own personal reasons.”

Watch the Hot 97 interview below (Big Boi’s comments about the collaboration happen at around the 8:30 mark).