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Casting Call: A Tribe Called Quest

Q-Tip is the most famous and successful former member of ATCQ: he's released three solo albums, with a fourth one coming out (allegedly) this year; produced for the likes of Nas, Mobb Deep, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, and D'Angelo; and made a guest appearance on one of our favorite '90s tunes, DeeLite's "Groove is in the Heart." A little bit geeky, a lot cocky, we'd like rapper-actor Donald Glover to play Tip.

 

This film needs some ladies. Unfortunately, the world of hip-hop was/is not a particularly lady-friendly place. From the limited selection of women involved in The Native Tongues, we've chosen to cast Raven Symoné as Queen Latifah.

 

A Tribe Called Quest and The Jungle Brothers grew up together: Q-Tip and Muhammad attended the same school as The Jungle Brother's Mike Gee, Sammy B, and Afrika Baby Bam. As we have limited space, we're only going to cast Afrika Baby Bam, the weirdest member. We think he should be played by Rob Brown.

 

No one is really sure what Jarobi White did, but he was important—especially to his BFF Phife Dawg. Like Phife, music was not White's primary interest (he is more interested in the culinary arts), but he was there when the group temporarily reunited for the Rock the Bells tour in 2008. We pick American actor Sinqua Walls for the group's fourth member. Sure, he's prettier than White, but that's what movies are for! (No offense, White—Walls is prettier than us, too.)

 

Though slightly less famous, Phife Dawg, aka Malik Isaac Taylor, was as important to ATCQ's existence as Q-Tip. Phife encouraged Tip to rap at the age of nine; Tip encourage Phife to buck up and join ATCQ after high school. Phife introduced Tip to Jarobi; Tip introduced Phife to Muhammad and the Jungle Brothers. As Phife commented in Michael Rappaport's documentary about the band: "I introduced him to the game, but he introduced me to the paper." At 5'3", Phife was nicknamed the "Five-Foot Assassin." He also suffers from diabetes, and gave himself the name "the funky diabetic." Music wasn't always Phife's main interest—he's a huge sports fan and recruits basketball players for a school in Connecticut. When his head's in the game, however, he's extremely talented. Our recommendation for the role is The Wire alumnus Maestro Harrell.

 

 

Most of ATCQ's disagreements were between Tip and Phife, with the group's DJ, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, in the middle. Columbus Short would make a nice Muhammad.