Q is for Q-Tip (and Phife Dawg)

Back in the day when I was a teenager, before I had status and before I had a pager. . .

I have a lovely friend, Ingrid, with whom I spent my University year abroad with in California. Unfortunately (for my chances of ever actually seeing her that is) she now lives in New York doing something in documentary movie making (what exactly, other than facebooking the glamorous party she attends, I know not). Anyway, one of the things she facebooked recently was news of a Tribe Called Quest documentary premiering at that Robert Redford film festival I forget the name of right now.

I love a Tribe Called Quest. I like to say the first 12 inch single I ever bought was Can I kick it (though it may actually have been the second, and in any case I only ever bought three, the first one was probably the Soup Dragons. . .) and I've always loved their combination of kick-ass beats and properly creative and intelligent (and often funny) rhymes.

Towards the end of my year in the States I got nicknamed Tim El Segundo by the father of a friend in LA (my friend Aliye already had one friend called Tim, and her Dad claimed he needed a way to differentiate). It was never a name that stuck, but it always made me overly pleased that there was some link with a Tribe Called Quest. What were they doing in El Segundo in the first place? Anyway, I can't wait to try and see this documentary, not only to find about the lives of some really talented artists, but also to remind me of a lot of good times, places and people.