It’s official: Phife is gone. The Tribe Called Quest is now short one member.

I saw the man once, for all of 45 minutes.

Some time during my junior year at Miami University, I attended a combination Alpha Phi Alpha “step show” and Tribe Called Quest concert. I had one or two friends from the dorms who were vaguely involved in A-Phi-A and they’d snagged tickets cheap. The step show seemed to go on forever, but it was preferable to the dead silence that followed. For ten minutes, then half an hour, then an hour, then nearly two hours, nothing happened. Nobody moved; most of us had every line of The Low End Theory burned into our brains, if not that plus “I Lost My Wallet In El Segundo”, so we weren’t going anywhere until Q-Tip and Phife showed up.

Which they did, with little ceremony and a hilariously maladjusted sound system. They covered the hits, rapped with the crowd, then Tip shouted “See you at the after-party!” and bounced off the set. I looked at my watch. Tribe hadn’t quite played for 45 minutes. But what could you say? They didn’t exactly have a monstrous repertoire at that point. Plus, it was close to midnight.

I never found out why the Tribe was so late for that show; indeed, not even the A-Phi-A guys seemed to have a clue. Was it a delayed flight? A bag of coke? A serious case of not giving a shit? Doesn’t really matter. When you have true talent, you can do whatever you want. And the Tribe had talent to spare.

As I travel around at the fringes of automotive journalism, watching the various pimps and hoes eat caviar and drive free Cadillacs and enjoy twelve business-class trips to Europe each year, I’m often reminded of “Show Business” by the Tribe. I’ve excerpted it below, minus the last two guest verses (which are abysmally bad) and provided the music as well.

Let me tell you ’bout the snakes, the fakes, the lies, the highs
At all of these industry shing-dings
Where you see the pretty girls
In the high animated world
Checking for a rapper with all the dough
If you take a shit they want to know
And if you’re gonna fall, they won’t be around, y’all
So you still wanna do the show business?
And you think that you got what it takes?
I mean you really gotta rap, and be all that
And prepare yourself for the breaks
Check it out!

[Hook: All]
Do you wanna be in the business? (The Business)
The ups and downs with the hoes (The Business)
Always getting fronted on at shows (The Business)
People gotta stick their nose (In the Business)

[Verse 2: Q-Tip]
Yo, I gotta speak on the cesspool
It’s the rap industry and it ain’t that cool
Only if you’re on stage or if you’re speaking to your people
Ain’t no-one your equal
Especially on the industry side
Don’t let the games just glide
Right through your fingers, you gotta know the deal
So Lord Jamar speak, because you’re real…

[Verse 3: Lord Jamar]
They’re giving you the business and putting on a show
You’re a million dollar man that ain’t got no dough
But you got a ho tickets backstage to a show
Sedated and at that fact they elated
Time pass and your ass say “Where’s my loot?”
The reply is a kick in the ass from a leg and a boot
All you wanna do is taste the fruit
But in the back they’re making fruit juice
You ask for slack and wanna get cut loose from the label
Not able cos you signed at the table
For a pretty cash advance, now they got a song and dance
That you didn’t recoup, “More soup with your meal?”
Cos this is the real when you get a record deal
And I say…

[Verse 4: Phife]
Aw shucks, look what the cat hauled in
It’s Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest, let me begin
Like Chuck D, I got so much trouble on my mind
’bout these no-talent artists getting signed, they can’t rhyme
And if that ain’t bad, you got bootleggers
Going out like suckers, motherfuckers
Feel it’s time that I let loose the lion
And if not that then I’ll commence to head flying
Seems in ’91 everybody want a rhyme
And then you go and sell my tape for only $5.99?
Please nigga, I’ve worked too hard for this
No more will I take the booty end of the stick
Bogus brothers making albums when they know they can’t hack it
Cos they lyrics is played like 8-Ball jackets
Now tell me I can’t tear it up
Go get yourself some toilet paper cos your lyrics is butt

[Hook: All]
Do you wanna be in the business? (The Business)
People can’t walk a straight line in (The Business)
Some of these brothers can’t rhyme in (The Business)
A-yo, I’m tryna get mine (The Business)

Rest in peace, Phife.