Busta Rhymes Hopes A Tribe Called Quest Doc Shows Their 'Legacy'

Celebrity Favorites: Busta Rhymes

Busta Rhymes has had a VIP view on A Tribe Called Quest's career — from appearing on ATCQ's "Scenario" to Q-Tip producing material for his solo albums — and the rowdy rapper was outwardly righteous about the controversy surrounding the documentary about the Queens collective.

Bus admitted he doesn't know much about the project, but in a nod to both sides — Tip and the doc's producers — he urged that the story be fair above everything else. He called the emergence of Tribe a milestone in hip-hop that should be treated accordingly.

"I don't really know what to think about it yet 'cause I haven't seen it," he told Mixtape Daily when we caught up with him on Lil Wayne's I Am Still Music Tour stop in New York. "But the fact that a movie house and Michael Rapaport and just all the people involved, from a creative, production and executive standpoint [green-lit it], I commend them all. But I hope they represented my people right. Tribe are my brothers, they're a milestone in hip-hop [from] when they first came out and they're a milestone still and they will forever be a milestone. One thing that's the most important about Tribe to me is that the music they made is timeless. Even though those records that we classify as timeless or from the 'golden era' came out years ago, that boom-bap is unprecedented to this day.

"A lot of times when people get the opportunity to dig deep in the good and bad, for the excitement and novelty, they like to capitalize on [buzz] created as a result of highlighting the negative over the positive," Busta explained, alluding to the documentary filmmaking process. "I hope that's something that's not a reality in this situation. I just want to see — good or bad — that there's a fair balance shining the light on the existence and legacy of Tribe."

Although members of the group have spoken out publicly against doc director Rapaport, alleging business misconduct on his part, Q-Tip and company urged fans to see the completed "Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest."

"I encourage everybody still to see this film," Tip told earlier this month. "Not only because it's about us, but it's really about the hip-hop movement, man. It really, really is, that's on everything. It's a celebration not only of Tribe, but of the culture. Of what goes into making records: the ups, the downs, the switching of the times. It's a beautiful story about hip-hop. He really did a great job, and I commend him for it, still. He really did an amazing job."

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