The 60th Grammy Awards are in New York City tonight (Jan. 28) and for the past few days, the energy around the music bonanza has hit a fever pitch. The hip-hop community has been out the past few days in full force with various parties. REVOLT TV Chairman Diddy, JAY-Z and Beyoncé, T.I., Fat Joe, Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, Jadakiss, Fabolous, Cardi B, Migos, Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots, Slick Rick, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott are just a fraction of the culture’s top stars who have taken over New York.
Everyone has their attention on the Grammys this year and all the big hip-hop nominations. Even with all the love hip-hop has gotten this year there have been some glaring omissions. In November, A Tribe Called Quest’s abstract poetic, Q-Tip, took the Grammys to task in a series of Instagram videos for snubbing their acclaimed LP We Got It From Here… Thank You For Your Service.
“I’m sick of y’all fuckin’ Grammy niggas man,” Q-Tip lamented. “You got us to get out there to perform last year and shit and y’all don’t give us no fuckin’ nominations? What happened?
“Y’all think it’s some sort of caveat because this is the first time that no white man wasn’t nominated in no major categories and shit? We were the most black cultured group out. That’s all we stood on. That’s what we represented,” Q-Tip said in the first video. “This fucking album that we just put out, this last Tribe album, it stands with everybody else’s shit that’s up there. I don’t give a fuck. Respect to everybody who is nominated and all that, but whatever, I’m speaking for mine.”
Tribe, Busta Rhymes and Consequence performed together last year at the Grammys and not only did the group give much rallies behind social and political messages but they also paid tribute to deceased member Phife Dawg. Tip’s cousin Consequence agrees that the group should have been included in this year’s nominations.
“If there’s anything that took me aback about the Grammy nominations was that it as the fact that it was Phife’s final finale,” Con said recently in the REVOLT TV New York studios. “And that man deserved recognition for what he did on this last Tribe album for sure.
“I still look at it we had a great year [in 2017],” Cons added. “We had great campaign run with this album. Came in number one on Billboard. Had every TV look imaginable. Broke records with Dave Chappelle. Had a great festival run over the course of the summer. A lot of the youth was really with us on this record. If there’s anything that made me sad about any nomination was that this was Phife’s swan song. The performance he put up on the album, that deserves recognition. I’m blessed to be here. Myself, Q-Tip, Ali, Jarobi we’re here. And Busta. Shout out to Busta, we’re here. It’s upon us to keep walking the journey. Keep walking the quest.”
Con says Tip’s ire being raised by the lack of recognition from the Recording Academy comes from a sincere place.
“He was on his 116th Ave Boogie,” The Queens MC laughed about Tip’s anger on IG. “He’s a passionate artist. It’s from a source of passion because of what we come from. Nobody gave us nothing. We had to go get it. When we’re dealing with instances as such, it’s disheartening. But you go back to your playbook and get back at it.”
One of the new plays is an expansion of the brand beyond music and into a new clothing inspired by the many iconic pieces of Tribe artwork throughout their three decade long career.
“I’m the president and I oversee designs,” Cons explained. “Tip decided to give me my inheritance early. He basically turned over the reigns. He, Ali, Phife’s wife Deisha Taylor are the owners. And me and Ali oversee it day to day from a creative standpoint and we just renewed a deal, restructured it with Sony thread shop. It’s doing good. We have the Phife capsule collection, we have new pieces dropping. It’s great man. I’m overseeing the design aspect of it. It’s an extension of creativity for us. We put in so much work, we have a lot of iconic art work.”
Tribe just started a line for the youngsters called “Kid Questers” and Cons’ rapping son Caiden is the first model.