This week brought the passing of one of hip-hop’s all-time greatest, Phife Dawg. His friends, family, and fans are still in mourning, but the iconic rapper will always live on in his music. Thankfully, just months before he lost his long battle with diabetes, Phife gave us one more legendary moment when he reunited with A Tribe Called Quest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last November.
(Read: A Tribe Called Quest’s Top 10 Songs)
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of their People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm debut, Phife Dog, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White came together for the first time in two years to perform on Fallon. With The Roots crew behind them, the group delivered a fast-paced, amplified version of their classic track “Can I Kick It?”. They doubled down on the call-and-response nature of the track, adding callbacks into nearly every line. Phife, dressed head to toe in Mets gear, appeared in prime form, wowing with his smooth delivery style on the second verse.
The performance was ATCQ’s first on TV in over 15 years, and is sadly now the last they’ll ever give. At least we can revisit it thanks to the infinite archives that are the internet; watch the final performance from A Tribe Called Quest below.
