Ali Shaheed Muhammad Leaves A Tribe Called Quest Reunion Door Open

Ali Shaheed Muhammad left the possibility of an A Tribe Called Quest reunion open while explaining why performing without Phife Dawg remained difficult.

In his interview about Tribe’s future, Muhammad told Clash that the group still struggled with the loss of a member whose presence shaped its shows.

“We haven’t figured it out yet,” Muhammad said when discussing how Tribe might move forward without Phife beside them.

He also left room for another chapter: “I can’t answer, but I’m always open to the possibility of something.”

Muhammad described the connection between Q-Tip and Phife onstage as something the remaining members could not simply replace with another performance.

He explained that Tribe had not prepared for that absence, contrasting their experience with De La Soul continuing to perform during Dave’s illness.

He recalled understanding the Beastie Boys’ reluctance to perform after MCA’s death much better once he experienced losing Phife himself.

Phife died in March 2016, and Tribe subsequently marked another ending during its appearance at New York City’s Panorama festival in July 2017.

Q-Tip, Muhammad and Jarobi White told the hometown crowd that the performance would be their last New York show as A Tribe Called Quest.

Meanwhile, Muhammad’s partnership with Adrian Younge continued with The Midnight Hour: Lost Tapes JID028, which arrived through Jazz Is Dead on October 23.

The nine-track album grew from sessions for a second Midnight Hour project that were set aside in 2020 as Jazz Is Dead took priority.

Their first Midnight Hour album arrived in 2018, drawing on a live rhythm section and an orchestra for recordings made directly to tape.

Muhammad also worked with Raphael Saadiq and Dawn Robinson in Lucy Pearl, adding another group to a career spanning rap and R&B.

Muhammad and Younge also reached television through Marvel’s Luke Cage, bringing their music to the Netflix superhero series set in Harlem.

Their production appeared on Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered., including “untitled 06,” which featured CeeLo Green and began as music for their own project.

On the new album, Muhammad played electric bass and drums on “The Midnight Stroll,” while Younge handled acoustic piano, according to the official credits.