Legendary New York rap group A Tribe Called Quest made a triumphant return to the stage last Friday on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in celebration of their seminal debut album turning a quarter century old this year.
ATCQ originally broke up in 1998, reformed in 2008 for a reunion tour and then opened for Kanye West during his Yeezus tour stop in New York in 2013. Friday, however, marked the first time they had played on television for over 15 years.
Backed by The Roots crew from Philly for this (supposedly) one-off reunion, all four members — Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White — performed an ebullient version of their iconic, Lou Reed-sampling hit "Can I Kick It?" from People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths of Rhythm.
The live instrumentation, audience call and response and Q-Tip's incredible tunic made for an excellent television appearance and proved that boy, this track still really has a lot of flavor. (Unfortunately, though, Phife didn't update his New York mayoral endorsement.)
While I was lucky enough to catch these guys at Jones Beach in '08, here's to hoping this signals another string of shows in the near future.
In the meantime, a 25th anniversary reissue of their first record is on sale now.