As word spread of Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor’s death late last night, tributes to the late A Tribe Called Quest rapper came pouring in. ?uestlove posted a remembrance to Instagram, in which he recalled how Phife’s standout verses on the group’s second album inspired him to make music.
In the post, ?uest describes a life-changing first listen of ATCQ’s The Low End Theory with Roots MC Tariq Trotter, a.k.a. Black Thought, at Trotter’s university dorm in 1991. “Riq & I had this moment a few times, but the look on our faces when we 1st heard ‘Buggin Out’ was prolly Me & Tariq’s greatest ‘rewind selector!’ moment in our friendship,” he writes. “By the time we got to ‘Scenario’ I swear to god THAT was the moment I knew I wanted to make THIS type of music when I grew up.”
Read ?uestlove’s full tribute to Phife below.
