Why did A Tribe Called Quest split up? What we know as Q-Tip makes a rare appearance at the Grammys following the 2017 snub

American rapper and record producer Q-Tip, whose real name is Jonathan William Davis, presented the Dr Dre Global Impact Award to Pharrell Williams at this year’s Grammy Awards.

Davis, 55, described Williams, 52, as a “friend” and an “alien.” Meanwhile, the latter returned the favor and thanked the former for his guidance and impact.

“Q-Tip is someone that I’ve looked up to since the very beginning… There’s no one like you, and I call you teacher every day,” Pharrell noted.

Q-Tip is the founding member and primary producer of the now-defunct hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, which split up in 2017 following the sudden death of core member and rapper Phife Dawg.

In September 2017, Davis made the announcement midway through the performance of Whatever Will Be at the Bestival in Dorset, England.

“A Tribe Called Quest, we suffered a blow. We lost our boy Phife Dawg. This is gonna be our last show as A Tribe Called Quest, ever. 27 years, thanks for all the support you’ve given us over the years. Phife Dawg,” Q-Tip declared.

All about The Tribe Called Quest’s breakup amid Q-Tip’s rare Grammy appearance

Q-Tip and Phife Dawg, along with their childhood friends Ali Shaheed Muhammad (DJ and co-producer) and Jarobi White (rapper), formed The Tribe Called Quest in Queens, New York City, in 1985.

Over the years, they became pioneers in both alternative hip-hop and jazz rap. However, the first time the band split was in 1998 when the group was in a dispute with their label, Jive Records.

In August, a month before the release of their fifth album, The Love Movement, A Tribe Called Quest announced that it would be their final album. It later won a Grammy nomination and gold certification in the USA.

Meanwhile, their last performance at the time was at the now-closed Tramps in NYC in June 1998. A Tribe Called Quest performed Big Yellow Taxi, Buggin’ Out, and Jazz (We’ve Got) at the show.

Around the same time, reports surfaced that Q-Tip and Phife Dawg were having creative differences. However, the band briefly reconciled in 2003 to release the single, I C U (Doin’ It) featuring Erykah Badu.

The following year, in August, A Tribe Called Quest made their stage comeback and headlined the Street Scene Music Festival in San Diego. Q-Tip and the trio reunited in 2006 as a touring band, primarily to help Phife Dawg with his medical bills. Dawg had been diagnosed with diabetes in 1990.

From sold-out concerts in the USA, Canada, and Japan to the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, ATCQ did it all. Unfortunately, the group had to slow down when Phife Dawg had to undergo a kidney transplant in 2008, followed by another one in 2012.

Regardless, they continued to perform at the 2010 Rock the Bells Tour, the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards tribute for late manager Chris Lighty, and the Wireless and Splash! Festivals in London and Germany, respectively, in 2013.

Other shows included OpenAir Frauenfeld in Switzerland, H2O Music Festival in Los Angeles, and two of Kanye’s Yeezus Tour in New York.

Due to Dawg’s deteriorating health condition and on-and-off creative differences, A Tribe Called Quest decided to stop touring in 2013, according to a statement from Q-Tip at the time.

However, they returned two years later to perform on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in November 2015. At the same time, they re-released their debut studio album, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, to mark its 25th anniversary.

ATCQ also put aside their differences to record an album titled We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service.

Amid the recording, Phife Dawg died from renal failure and diabetes at his home in Oakley, California, in March 2016. He was 45. His band continued to record the final album and released it in November under Epic Records. It debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.

In honor of Dawg, the remaining trio performed the hit tracks, including We the People, from the album in front of his mural on the stage of Saturday Night Live.

Speaking with Billboard in late 2016, Davis, who had converted to Islam and changed his name to Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, hinted at ATCQ’s final world tour to promote the album and pay homage to Phife, before their permanent disbandment.

The trio performed at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2017. Throughout that summer, ATCQ performed in several concerts, festivals, TV programs, tours, and more. Before wrapping up at Bestival, Q-Tip also hinted at the permanent split at the Panorama Festival in New York and the FYF Festival in Los Angeles.

At the latter, Q-Tip noted:

“This is our final performance here in LA as Tribe, obviously, because Phife Dawg, our anchor, has been called to another mission.”

The rapper-producer later called out the Recording Academy for snubbing The Tribe Called Quest at the next year’s nominations. Taking to one of five Instagram video posts in November 2017, he asked:

“I’m sick of y’all f**king Grammy n***as, man. You got us to get out there to perform last year and sh*t and y’all don’t give us no f**king nominations? What happened?”

Q-Tip continued:

“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 sh*t? We were the most black-cultured group out. That’s all we stood on. That’s what we represented. This f**king album that we just put out, this last Tribe album, it stands with everybody else’s sh*t that’s up there. I don’t give a f**k. Respect to everybody who is nominated and all that, but whatever, I’m speaking for mine.”

He reposted his IG videos on X, adding in the caption, “F**k da Grammys!”

It is noteworthy that A Tribe Called Quest earned four total Grammy nominations but never won.

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Phife Dawg’s final solo album, Forever, was posthumously released in 2022. Muhammad and White also went to pursue solo careers, as did Q-Tip.

Q-Tip also became the host of Apple Music 1’s radio show, Abstract Radio, the Artistic Director of Hip-Hop Culture at the Kennedy Center, and a lecturer at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where he helps students explore the connection between jazz and hip-hop.

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