Last night, many gathered in Harlem at the famous Apollo Theater to celebrate the late Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest’s life and legacy. The room was filled with family, friends, fans, and many familiar faces like Kanye West, André 3000, The Roots, D’Angelo, Chuck D, Busta Rhymes, KRS-One, Consequence, Grandmaster Flash, and others, who fall into each of these categories.
Several people took the stage to share stories of their favorite Phife memories, and some even delivered special performances, but one of the most memorable speeches came from André 3000 last night. Like everyone else who crossed the stage, he expressed how much A Tribe Called Quest shaped and impacted his entire life. He discussed ATCQ’s influence on Outkast, and how the influences continue to get carried down to inspire new daring and innovative artists today like Young Thug.
Though André shared a lot of inspirational and heartfelt words, his most meaningful message came with a shocking blow. He began by saying he was going to share “some interesting news and some disappointing news at the same time.” André revealed that, “About a year or two ago, maybe, we were talking about doing A Tribe Called Quest and Outkast album.” As expected, the room quickly with gasps of disappointment but he continued, urging people to not “let the time go by” like they did in that moment.
Watch the video above.
Kanye West also delivered quite the heartfelt speech. Walking on stage without any real plan of what to say, he opened up with a light joke to ease the tension: “I wasn’t asked to speak, but that ain’t never stop me before,” he continued. “I might say something wrong, but I thought it would be more wrong not to say nothing.”
Watch Kanye’s full speech below.
