Poster of Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

Documentary, Music

Director: Michael Rapaport

Release Date: January 19, 2012

Where to Watch

I don’t think that hard core fans should make documentaries without a partner that knows nothing about the subject matter. Though I loved remembering that golden age of hip hop (De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah), the pacing of Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest was off & I thought more time should have been devoted to explaining the context: more about that time period, their role & why they were considered important instead of rushing headlong into “the music died” portion. So much time was devoted to things that I thought was inconsequential that when the film spent a considerable amount of time to the conflict, it didn’t feel like a natural consequence to what happened before. Self indulgent alert! One imdb reviewer said it perfectly: “Meanwhile, the protagonists barely get to talk about the things that made them special: their creative vision, the development of their monumental sound, the risks they took.

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