SAY WHAT?? RECENT QUOTES IN MAGAZINES

1.) There’s a story in the latest Vibe (sorry, no link) about why the Native Tongues crew fell apart in the late 90s. The article is hard-to-follow and not very enlightening, especially considering the writer says he spent the past 3 years (!) interviewing everyone for the piece. But from what I can glean from the various quotes, the falling-out was basically the usual case of money and fame coming between family. It sounds like the beef began when the Jungle Brothers caught feelings after A Tribe Called Quest jumped ship to Rush Management. (DJ Red Alert was the original manager of both groups, and he was largely responsible for launching their careers.) Reading between the lines, the JBs were also probably envious of Tribe’s success with The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders, both of which went platinum. It’s unclear to me where De La Soul fit in to all the drama, but apparently Posdnuos and Tip and Afrika – the three dominant figures in the three dominant Native Tongue acts – were always having creative and financial differences. Finally, if I’m reading this correctly, there was some conflict when the Black Sheep came out, because their silly but misogynistic vibe was at odds with the rest of the camp. Like I said, it’s all very confusing and the article just seems hastily assembled. These guys deserve better. Of course, I hold extremely warm and nostalgic feelings toward all of these artists, as I’m sure do many of my readers who are of the same age. Thankfully, by the end of the Vibe story, one gets the sense that for the most part the Native Tongues have put the problems of the past behind them and are all “cool again,” as Mike G of the Jungle Brothers puts it. But wait a minute. Check out what his partner Afrika has to say…

AFRIKA: I want everyone to know the truth about the Native Tongues. They have been trying to erase the Jungle Brothers out of the books, when I was the one that started the whole thing. This has been going on for years. There’s a reason we haven’t been able to do a Native Tongues reunion: It’s because there are house niggas and real niggas. The Jungle Brothers are real niggas. Maseo has always been good people and a real dude. But Q-Tip and Pos, I don’t know.

Daaamn! That’s some harsh shit. Now, who knows, maybe Afrika has a good reason to be so pissed off. But c’mon, both Tip and Posdnuous have pretty damn solid reputations. When have you ever heard anything bad about either of them? (Treach from Naughty by Nature was mad at Pos for a second until he realized he had misinterpreted one of De La’s lyrics as a diss.) Again, what do I know? This magazine certainly doesn’t give us the whole story. But the way I see it, there’s a reason that Tribe and De La are two of the most beloved hip-hop groups of all time and that Tip and Pos still rank on a lot of people’s lists of favorite MCs. Yes, the Jungle Brothers’ Straight Out the Jungle and Done By the Forces of Nature are classics and highly underrated, but then they took an L with J. Beez With the Remedy and they never recovered. They just became more and more irrelevant. Afrika seems to think they fell off because his Native Tongue fam sold him out. But couldn't it also be that he’s just not as nice on the mic as Tip or Pos? (Or Phife or Dres or Latifah or Monie or Chi Ali. Ouch!)

2.) The article about George Clinton in the latest GQ (again, sorry no link) is much more thorough and revealing than the Native Tongues piece. But damn if it doesn’t make George look pitiful. It was very sad to read…

What’s the longest, since you got into [crack], that you’ve gone without doing it?
“About two hours.” He laughs. “No. A week. Three days, four days, five days.”
And that’s been the past couple of decades?
“Yeah.”