In this game I’ve seemed to come across all walks of life and personalities. Some you can’t get enough of, and some you’d wish you could easily forget. After being a huge Phife Dawg and ATCQ fan for nearly ten years of my life, I didn’t know what I’d expect to encounter upon actually getting a chance to chill with him. When it was all said and done though, the respect I had for him as an artist seemed to grow after seeing how real of a person he is.

I’m not going to bore you with the story of how Phife was put on by De La Soul back in the day, or how many classic records he was responsible for creating back in the days with A Tribe Called Quest, because that time in his life is behind him now. I want to tell you about the new Phife, still constantly expanding socially and musically. After moving to Atlanta nearly six years ago, Phife has settled down and become focused on advancing the two major things in his life; his family and his music. Well you don’t know that Phife aka Malik Taylor is a responsible loving family man, but if you’d stayed in check with him over the last few years you should know about his solo work he’s put out – most notably the Ventilation LP. Phife, staying true to his underground roots, decided to release his work on the German GrooveAttack label ( the one responsible for Superrappin ). All looked great for Phife upon the release of his new album. Phife delivered 12 solid track featuring the works of some of hiphop’s best. Pete rock, HiTek, Jarobi, and a slew of others combine to round out a bangin’ debut solo album. Just as it seemed that this fairytale ending would keep getting better – it took a dramatic turn for the worst. Although a lot of people were feeling the effort, apparently not too may people were buying it. A fault that Phife blames on the label for not pushing his shit hard enough. Although very disappointed at first, Phife has learned to move on. ” We still got a dope record out, and it’s still all Phife namean. Next time around though things will be done differently “. And chilling with Phife for two days got me a ticket to see what he was talking about. The new joints are bananas. Definitely some of Phife’s best work to date. Check for tracks like “Rotten Apple” and “Teaching the seeds” with the sick KC and The Sunshine Band sample.

So after all this you’d think Malik Taylor would be sour and almost ready to hang up the high top basketball kicks, but he’s not. He’s learned a lot from everything, and is ready to release his new work on the Smokin Needles independent label that is definitely on the rise in the new year. So after all the talk about hiphop, old Tribe stories, and hours of talking about sports ( which as you all know just comes with the territory ) with Phife, Jarobi, and my man RastaRoot, I came to find out the basis for all of Tribe’s and Phife’s success; ” it all comes down to being real with yourself, and staying focused on only the things that are real important to you”. Spoken like a true Five foot MC.

Check for Smokin Needles as well at www.smokinneedles.com