Tag Archives: native tongues

The first lady in my life, but now you’re gone,
I learned through the years to keep carrying on.
Your picture brings me tears and memories,
The way things could be…and they should be, but they’re not.

Afrika Baby Bam, “All I Think About Is You,” from Jungle Brothers’ J. Beez Wit The Remedy, 1993

‘You claim to be the man, you want me for a lover,
So you can do my girlfriends and my sister and my mother?’

I said, ‘You’re very blunt,’ with quickness to the cue,
‘So whassup with your mother, does she look as good as you?’

Dres, “Similac Child,” from Black Sheep’s A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, 1991

38-24-37…
You and me, hun, we’re a match made in heaven.
I like to kiss ya where some brothers won’t…
I like to tell ya things some brothers don’t.

Q-Tip, “Bonita Applebum,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, 1990

How far must you go to gain respect? Um…
Well, it’s kind of simple: just remain your own.
Or you’ll be crazy sad and alone.

Q-Tip, “Check the Rhime,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, 1991

Friends: how many have ‘em?
How long before they split like atoms?
Don’t ask me, but what I do stand behind
Is someone havin’ your back seems hard to find.

Posdnous, “The Book of Life,” from De La Soul’s Plug 1 and Plug 2, First Serve, 2012

Shorty, let me tell you about my only vice:
It has to do with lots of lovin’, and it ain’t nuttin’ nice.

Q-Tip, “Electric Relaxation,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993

Don’t get offended, there’s no need for insecurity,
Age is but a number, it’s all about maturity.

Chi-Ali, “Age Ain’t Nothing But a #,” The Fabulous Chi-Ali, 1992

Yeah, I cut class…I got a D.
Cause History meant nothing to me
Except a definite nap.
That’s why I always sat in the back.

Mike G., “Acknowledge Your Own History,” from Jungle Brothers’ Done by the Forces of Nature, 1989

Dres (Black Sheep) • “Black with N.V.” • 1991

Now, harmony is a total love of things
For those who are inclined or better yet like to sing.
But piece of mind it is my right for the spark will ignite
Till I can catch a cab at the town at midnight,
Till I can be myself and not be thought as worse,
Till I can buy a slice from Howard Beach to the ‘Hurst.
Till I can get the pill without fear of eject,
And occupations which I seek I can have if I select.
Now, if I so select and reach out to make touch
How can you say that I ask for too much?

Dres, “Black with N.V.,” from Black Sheep’s A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, 1991

I like ‘em brown, yellow, Puerto Rican or Haitian.
Name is Phife Dawg from the Zulu Nation.

Phife, “Electric Relaxation,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993. More from Phife. Rest in forever peace, Malik Taylor, the rapper known as Phife Dawg, who died Wednesday at the age of 45. 1970-2016.

I know I’d be the man if I cold yanked the plug on R&B…but I can’t, and that’s bugged.

Q-Tip, “Buggin’ Out,” The Low End Theory, 1991. More from ATCQ…

Shorty, let me tell you about my only vice:
It has to do with lots of lovin’, and it ain’t nuttin’ nice.

Q-Tip, “Electric Relaxation,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993. More from the Tribe…

I never boned a honey that I didn’t like,
I never saw a mile that I couldn’t hike.
I never had a spliff to make me choke,
I never had a pocket that was broke.

Dres, “Flavor of the Month,” from Black Sheep’s A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, 1991

Question: Why is that MC’s be wack
And major labels wanna sign that crap?
A-yo…funk that!

Phife Dawg, “One Two Shit,” A Tribe Called Quest’s The Love Movement, 1998. More Tribe Quotes.

I know the feelin, when you feelin like a villain,
You be havin good thoughts but the evils be revealin’.
And the stresses of life can take you off the right path,
Jealousy and envy tends to infiltrate your staff…
We gotta hold it down so we can move on past
All adversities, so we can get through fast.

Q-Tip, “Stressed Out,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Beats, Rhymes & Life, 1996