Remembering Phife Dawg- A Hip-Hop Legend Passes Away At 45

Phife-Dwag-ATCQ-Death

If you know hip-hop, you know A Tribe Called Quest. And if you know Tribe, you know Phife Dawg. With his sharp wit and expert use and mastery of language, Phife was one of the greatest lyrical emcees of his time. The music world was sent into a downwards spiral this morning when the news broke that the legend had passed away at 45. Chuck D was the first to announce Phife’s death early this morning on Twitter. Other musical greats like Flying Lotus and Statik Selektah took to the social media platform to show love for the late rapper.


Phife, born Malik Taylor, grew up in Queens, New York and it was there that he met childhood friend, Q-Tip. The two went on to form A Tribe Called Quest, along with Jarobi White and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. ATCQ’s debut album People’s Instinctive Paths and the Paths of Rhythm drew the eye of the music industry but it was their sophomore album, The Low End Theory, that propelled them to hip-hop fame.

While Q-Tip’s flow was smooth and vocally effortless, “The Trini Gladiator”‘s style was explosive and sharp and his lyrics more mischievous. Phife described his style and Q-Tip’s style as “yin and yang”. His wordplay and delivery made him one of the most distinguishable voices in hip-hop. He often had a tumultuous relationship with Q-Tip and internal issues, along with problems with their record label, led to ATCQ’s dissipation after the drop of their fifth studio album, The Love Movement. Despite their continued grievances, Phife, and Q-Tip reunited for a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this past November.

While ATCQ made no further plans of performing or creating music together, Phife did allude to a solo project in an interview with Rolling Stone (hyperlink) that would possibly drop in 2016. He did release a teaser of the track “Nutshell” produced by the late and great J Dilla. The full length track was never released.

While we have no official statement concerning Phife’s exact cause of death, his long term battle with diabetes was often times debilitating. Michael Rapaport’s 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life, gave the world an inside look into Phife’s struggle with diabetes and his very real addiction to sugar. In 2008, the rapper had to undergo a kidney transplant due to diabetic related complications. Phife’s battle with the disease is representative of a much larger battle within the black community. Diabetes is a huge problem as it disproportionately affects African-Americans- studies show that Blacks are 1.7 more times likely to have or develop diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. Hopefully Phife’s death can open up conversations about the seriousness of diabetes and how it affects our communities.

Whether you’re young or old, chances are that ATCQ has touched your musical life in some way, shape or form. Phife Dawg will always live on through his music and in our hearts.