Watch Kanye West pay tribute to A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg with emotive speech

Influential rapper died in March at the age of 45

Kanye West paid tribute to late A Tribe Called Quest rapper Phife Dawg at a memorial event on Tuesday night (April 5) in New York.

The event took place at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, with A Tribe Called Quest members, André 3000, D’Angelo, The Roots, Busta Rhymes, Chuck D, Consequence and others also in attendance.

“I might say something wrong as always, but I thought it’d be more wrong not to say nothing,” West began, taking to the stage for a speech.

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He went on to describe how A Tribe Called Quest’s second album ‘Low End Theory’ was “the first album I ever bought”, adding: “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.”

“Anything I ever did wrong, blame Tip and Phife ’cause y’all raised me,” Kanye continued. “Tribe made Kanye West. Made the kid with the pink Polo. Made it so I could dress funny.”

West’s speech concluded with him saying: “I love y’all and I’m not sorry. Rest in Peace to Phife Dawg.” Watch the speech in full below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmeOjqjJJMc

“Anything I ever did wrong, blame Tip and Phife because y’all raised me” -#KanyeWest

A video posted by Revolt TV (@revolttv) on

After the event, West took to Twitter to further pay his respects to Phife Dawg, writing: “All respect prayers and love to Phife’s family Thank you for so much inspiration… His mother’s poem at the celebration brought me to tears… Tribe changed music forever”. See those tweets beneath.

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https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/717490677542731776

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/717490840239783937

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/717495871231942657

Phife Dawg died of complications from diabetes on March 22. He was 45.

Phife established A Tribe Called Quest in 1985 alongside Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip. They went on to release albums including ‘The Low End Theory’ and ‘Beats, Rhymes and Life’.

Phife Dawg pursued a short-lived solo career with his only album, ‘Ventilation: Da LP’, released in 2000. At the time of his death, he was working on a new solo album titled ‘Give Thanks’.

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