The latest and last album from pioneering hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest will be released in two weeks, November 11. It arrives eight days before a New York City street will be renamed in honor of the late Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor.
Rapper Q-Tip delivered the news Thursday on Facebook via a handwritten note, stating that Taylor had left the group “with the blue print of what we had to do.” Taylor died in March at the age of 45 from diabetes complications.
The as-yet-untitled album will feature guest appearances by Busta Rhymes and Consequence, and Q-Tip stresses that it’s not just a collection “filled with old Phife bars… this is that pure, unstepped on pure.”
The new LP, he adds, “will complete our paths of rhythm.”
On November 19, a public ceremony will be held to dedicate a portion of Linden Boulevard at 192nd Street in Queens’ St. Albans neighborhood, a stretch that will be forever known as “Malik ‘Phife Dawg’ Taylor Way”. The location is where A Tribe Called Quest’s classic “Check The Rhime” video was filmed (the song includes the line “Back in the days on the boulevard of Linden”), and the site currently boasts a mural dedicated to the pioneering rap group.
“The thought of having Linden Boulevard at 192, renamed to Malik ‘Phife Dawg’ Taylor is indescribable,” says Taylor’s wife, Deisha Head Taylor. “This is a perfect representation of who Malik was, and what Queens meant to him. Whenever he mentioned Queens, Linden Boulevard at 192, was a focal point of reference, so I am certain he would be pleased with having it renamed in his honor.”