Sitting on a couch inside a room at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, a towel draped around his neck and a visor perched on his head, Phife Dawg is relaxed.
Phife, as people call him, is one-fourth of A Tribe Called Quest, the pioneering hip-hop group that between 1990 and 1998 released a string of intelligent story songs (“Check the Rhime,” “Can I Kick It?”, “Bonita Applebum”) that are regarded as classics of the genre.
He still owns a house about 20 minutes outside of downtown Atlanta, but home these days isn’t even his native New York – it’s the Bay Area in California, where his wife has roots.
On a sticky Monday in late June, though, Phife and actor/director Michael Rapaport (“Boston Public,” “Friends”) were in town to talk about “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest,” a documentary about the group directed by Rapaport that opens in Atlanta on Friday.
Much of the intriguing film circles around the ebb and flow of ATCQ – the peevish behavior among members that led to the group's demise in the late '90s, the reconciliation in 2005, the breakups and makeups since then – and filming it over 2 ½ years was, said Rapaport, “a huge challenge and overload” that nonetheless pushed him “to a different place creatively.”
Though the members of ATCQ – Phife, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White, who left the group in the '90s and rejoined in 2006 – have a brotherly love, they also have family-style blowups, particularly Phife and Q-Tip, whose contentious relationship is well-documented in the film.
Q-Tip, Muhammad and White also caused a headache for Rapaport by not showing up to the screening of the documentary at Sundance in January. Only Phife and Rapaport were present to promote the film and Q-Tip had previously griped publicly about some edits.
Soon afterward, the trio released a statement in support of “Beats.”
“We had our little strife and tug of war in the press, but at the end of the day, I’m super-proud of the movie and hopefully Q-Tip will see the finished film with an audience and be proud of it, too,” Rapaport said, seated next to Phife Dawg on the hotel couch.
Rapaport’s camera catches plenty of he said-he said moments within ATCQ and at one point, early fissures in the group seemed to be blamed on Phife’s decision to leave New York for Atlanta.
“One day Q and I had an argument and I basically said, ‘Honestly, I moved down here because you get on my nerves,’ but that wasn’t the reason I moved. It was said in the heat of the moment,” Phife, 40, said slowly, his words bathed with a New York accent. “My reason for moving was because I was dating someone down here and I really loved Atlanta. I had a godmother here who showed me the ropes of the city. I’d make up reasons to come here.”
Phife’s love affair with the city fared better than his romantic aspirations.
“She was supposed to be my fiancée, but little did I know it was Women Anonymous here,” he laughed, and later added that he doesn’t miss Atlanta as much as he thought because he’s committed to being a family man in California.
The diminutive rapper known as the "Five Foot Assassin" is also a diabetic and a couple of years ago required a kidney transplant (provided by his wife).
In the film, some in the group insinuate that their 2008 reunion for the Rock the Bells tour was agreed upon only because Phife needed money for his medical bills.
Now, Phife shakes his head and chooses his words carefully.
“It’s easy to say we did those shows because of Phife’s health, Phife’s health, Phife’s health. But everybody needed some money in their pocket one way or the other. I’m immune to [what everyone says], so whatever. At the end of the day, the fans were happy to see us, that’s all I know,” he said.
Toward the conclusion of the documentary, it’s noted that ATCQ still has one album remaining on its contract.
But fans shouldn’t start scouring the Internet for new-music leaks anytime soon.
“We haven’t really talked about a new album,” Phife said. “We’re still trying to get past all the craziness that’s been going on since the movie started being made and the so-called fiasco at Sundance.”
Rapaport chimed in to mention that he and Phife might work on a documentary together that manifested out of their shared love of sports, but then added about ATCQ, “I know I’m nostalgic, but the music means so much to people and they give the best show. I think there’ll be more of that.”
Movie preview
“Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest”
Starring A Tribe Called Quest. Directed by Michael Rapaport.
Rated R for language. At Midtown Art Cinema (also opens Aug. 12 at AMC Barrett Commons 24 in Kennesaw). 1 hours, 35 minutes.
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