It became apparent that the group were going to take several of them. They hung and listened to more of James’s tracks, some of which had been made for Slum Village that James now marked as fair game for sale to others, especially since Slum didn’t have a deal on the table. Tre was disabused of this notion a few weeks later when James Dewitt Yancey, just off a plane from Detroit, showed up at their sublet-dressed fresh and clean in a blue-and-white Kangol beanie, extending a handshake and a smile.

Tre joked with the guys when they got back to the SoHo apartment they had rented for their stay: “You know that Tip’s real name is Jonathan Davis, right? I think it’s him. Q-Tip is pushing us onto some mysterious, new producer that nobody’s ever heard of, from a city that hardly any hip-hop has come out of, but the beats are banging and sound just like Q-Tip’s stuff? He’s in Detroit.Īfter they left Q-Tip’s crib with the beat tape in hand, Tre got suspicious. Tre Hardson already heard a few that he knew he wanted to write to. They listened as each incredible track gave way to an even better one. Q-Tip popped in a cassette that contained a succession of thirty-second instrumental snippets: beautiful harmonies over crisp drums. I want you to hear these beats from this new kid I’m working with, Jay Dee, he said. He was working with another group at the moment, Mobb Deep. But Tip told the guys that it would be a while before he could get into the studio with them. Members Fatlip, “Slim Kid” Tre, Imani, and Romye arrived at Q-Tip’s duplex in Greenwich Village on one gloomy winter day to talk about what they needed for their new album. 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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