In Memoriam|

Kendrick Lamar, Questlove, A Tribe Called Quest, and All of Hip-Hop Pay Tribute to Phife Dawg: Following the death of A Tribe Called Quest founding member Phife Dawg, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 45, tributes to the rap legend poured in from all of hip-hop, music, and more. Kendrick Lamar stopped his concert in Sydney tonight to lead a crowd of 18,000 in a chant of Phife’s name, while some of the biggest names in rap are sharing their memories of the Five Foot Assassin on social media. Mac Miller, paying his respects, has also created and shared a mix of some of Phife’s verses. Here are some of the best tributes to Phife Dawg so far:

Questlove on Phife’s influence, via Instagram: “Phife forever 1970-2016 | 1991 in Sept I went to visit Tariq at Millersville U in the middle of PA (Lancaster). Miles Davis had just passed & I went on a binge to study his post jazz works. Went to Sound of Market to purchase Nefertiti, In A Silent Way & Live Evil—the only non jazz purchase I made that day ironically was the most jazziest album in that collection: #TheLowEndTheory by @ATCQ. —it was raining that day so somehow the 1…2 punch of “Nefertiti”/”Fall” just had me in a trance that train trip—even though I suspected there was a possibility that Tribe could possibly have made a better album then their debut (the perfect @@@@@ mic Source rating would be on stands in a week so I was right)—but I knew I wanted to save that listening for when I got up to the campus w Riq.—so some 90mins later when I get to his dorm–we ripped that bad boy open (I can’t describe the frustration that was CD packaging in 1991, just imagine the anger that environmentalists feel when all that paper packaging in Beats headphone gets wasted — it’s like that) — the sign of a true classic is when a life memory is burnt in your head because of the first time you hear a song. — 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. (Back then every MC’s goal was to have that “rewind!!!” moment. As in to say something so incredible. Or to catch you by surprise that it makes you go “DAAAAAYUM!!!”& you listen over & over — Malik “Phife” Taylor’s verse was such a gauntlet/flag planting moment in hip hop. Every hip hop head was just… stunned HE. CAME. FOR. BLOOD & was taking NO prisoners on this album (or ever again) we just kept looking at the speaker on some disbelief old timey radio Suspense episode. & also at each other “Phife is KILLIN!” – 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 – (yeah, yeah, dad, I know: “go to Juilliard or Curtis to make a nice living at “real music”) but he didn’t know that Phife & his crew already wrote my destiny. I ain’t look back since. THANK YOU, PHIFE!”

Lin-Manuel Miranda: “MICROPHONE CHECK 1 2 WHAT IS THIS…” RIP Phife Dawg, who taught us the only way to rock the mic is to be unapologetically yourself.
Thanks.

Chuck D: Phife-HipHop & Rap word Warrior, simple as that.Breathed it & lined rhyme into Sport.A true fire Social Narrator my bro #RIBeats ATCQforever

By Dee Lockett

http://www.vulture.com/2016/03/kendrick-lamar-questlove-honor-phife-dawg.html#

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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths…

March 2016

23: Gegham Grigoryan, 65, Armenian opera singer; Jimmy Riley, 61, Jamaican reggae musician, cancer.

22: Phife Dawg, 45, American rap musician (A Tribe Called Quest), complications from diabetes.

21: Nomoreloss, 30s, Nigerian pop singer and songwriter, typhoid fever (WOW! I thought typhoid fever had been pretty much eradicated from the earth).

20: (none)

19: Scabs, 41, American horror punk drummer (Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13), suspected aneurysm.

18: David Egan, 61, American musician, lung cancer; Adnan Abu Hassan, 57, Malaysian composer, stroke, diabetes and kidney failure.

17: Tran Lap, 42, Vietnamese rock singer, colorectal cancer;  A. V. Prakash, 74, Indian flautist, heart attack; Steve Young, 73, American outlaw country music singer–songwriter (“Seven Bridges Road”).

16: Lee Andrews, 79, American doo-wop singer (Lee Andrews & the Hearts); Grace Chinga, 37, Malawian gospel singer; Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, 76, Indian shehnai musician, kidney disease.; Frank Sinatra, Jr., 72, American singer (That Face!) and actor (Hollywood Homicide), cardiac arrest.

From http://www.wikipedia.com

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