And despite Q-Tip’s noble principle of crediting his production work to the collective, he had emerged in conventional hip-hop wisdom as the locus of the group’s musical genius-especially after his rare, solo-credited outside production of the rapper Nas’s song “One Love.” He was starting to get more offers of work than he could handle. A Tribe Called Quest was the group to whom the Pharcyde was most often compared-with their bohemian clothes, twisted hair, and even more twisted sense of humor.
On the precipice of their follow-up, they now had the clout to work with the best in the business. Their producer, J-Swift, had split from the group after their gold-certified debut album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde. The Pharcyde, a quartet of rappers from Los Angeles, came to New York seeking beats. What that meant, as James understood it, was that Q-Tip was essentially offering to be his manager.īut what Q-Tip would really become, for the next several years, was an evangelist. “You took what I did and added sheen to it,” he said. But Q-Tip was from a different school of thought: brotherhood. “I’m surprised.” Something about this gesture didn’t compute for James: a producer promoting someone who could potentially be competition.
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