A new solo single by Phife Dawg is to be released later today.
The posthumous song, ‘Nutshell’, will premiere on Apple’s Beats 1 and go on sale shortly after. Half of the proceeds from the track will be donated to American Diabetes Association and National Kidney Foundation.
“Phife loved his fans, and was so excited for them to hear his new music,” his widow said in a statement. “I feel like he would have wanted it this way.”
The A Tribe Called Quest rapper died of complications from diabetes on March 22. At the time of his death, he was working on a solo album titled ‘Give Thanks’.
‘Nutshell’, which appears on the album, features a beat by late hip hop producer J Dilla. A video for the single will debut at Harlem’s The Celebration of Phife, an event taking place tomorrow (April 6) at the Apollo Theater.
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.
Since Phife’s death, fans have started a campaign to have a Queens street renamed after A Tribe Called Quest, while the hip-hop world has paid tribute to the late rapper.
The remaining members of the band released a statement calling his contribution ‘seismic’.