Yesterday, hundreds of family members and friends gathered at the Apollo Theater in New York to remember and honor A Tribe Called Quest member Phife Dawg. On March 22, Phife passed away due to complications from diabetes. He was only 45 years old. Those in attendance included Busta Rhymes, Andre 3000, Chuck D, Michael Rapaport, Lauryn Hill, LL Cool J, L.A. Reid, and Kanye West, who delivered a heartwarming speech paying homage to the late rapper.
Unannounced, Yeezy took the stage and reflected on how he grew up listening to A Tribe Called Quest, and how they influenced him stating, “Low End Theory was the first album I ever bought and I stayed in the suburbs of Chicago with my stepfather. I’d always get into trouble for listening to music during the week and then I would have to go to detention or study hall, but I enjoyed it ’cause I had that Tribe tape and it didn’t really matter how long that walk was.”
Kanye continued, “Y’all made it okay in a city of Al Capone — number one murder capital city — for me to be me. Tribe made Kanye West. Made the kid with the pink Polo. Made it so I could dress funny. I’m not sorry if I said something wrong.”
Kanye wouldn’t be Kanye if he didn’t go on a rant about something. Before wrapping up his speech, Ye shared a few thoughts on the music industry as a whole stating, “And I be at these events in Hollywood, and I be at these events here, and I’m looking at how many more people inspire us and the walls that we have on our finances,” he said. “Out in Hollywood, everybody got a mink coat and $500,000 car. And it’s the way the music industry was set up was that all the people that run the industry and sign everybody from out of Queens, the Bronx, southside of Chicago, Atlanta make sure that they get that crib.”
Ye candidly concluded with, “I’m sorry, but that’s what was on my f*ckin’ mind when I was sitting here thinking about how much these people inspire me and how powerful the influence of the music was and how it made that walk to study hall so short. How it meant everything. It is everything. Music was stolen from us and corporatized and anybody that spoke up was demonized. Anything I ever did wrong, blame Tip and Phife ’cause y’all raised me.”
Check out Ye giving his speech below, as well as his tweets.
All respect prayers and love to Phife’s family Thank you for so much inspiration
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 5, 2016
His mother’s poem at the celebration brought me to tears.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 5, 2016
Tribe changed music forever
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 5, 2016
