Q-Tip, Michael Rapaport Continue Feud Over ‘A Tribe Called Quest’ Documentary

With only a few days until the documentary ‘Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest‘ hits theaters, the feud between Q-Tip and the film’s director Michael Rapaport rages on in the press.
It’s no secret that Q-Tip is not supportive of the film due to creative differences he had with the director. During his March appearance on MTV’s RapFix, the ATCQ frontman commended Rapaport for directing the film and encouraged fans to see it when it opens in theaters. “[Rapaport] really did a great job, and I commend him for it, still,” he told the show’s host Sway. “He really did an amazing job.”

However, Tip warned other pioneering rappers to control their images and stories. “Everybody out there in hip-hop who’s crossed that threshold, who’s done work, who has a history — whether it be Queen Latifah or Rakim or Wu-Tang or Jay-Z or Nas or Ice Cube or N.W.A — yo, tell y’all own stories. Be in charge of your own stories, you hear me?”

Rapaport, in response to what he perceived were Q-Tip’s racially-bias comments, revealed that he’s done talking with the Grammy-nominated rapper about the film. “I’m not reaching out to him anymore about this,” he told the New York Daily News. “I appeased them, worked with them, tried to hear their point of view on things.” Rapaport also accuses ATCQ of being too controlling and wanting certain scenes deleted of which he steadfastly refused. “Spike Lee would have told A Tribe Called Quest to kiss his f—— a– and take a … Walk,” he says.

Although Rapaport is little bothered by the ongoing controversy, he believes that the film itself will stand alone as a great documentary. “I intended to make an independently produced documentary about my favorite group, and that’s what I did,” stated Rapaport. “The reason I made the movie was out of a good place. And I was fair.”

So far, the film has garnered good reviews and it won the prestigious Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June.
The documentary ‘Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest’ will open in New York and Los Angeles on July 8.