A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg Is Set to Play Club Red with a Grip of Local Talent

By Anthony Sandoval Tue., Jun. 19 2012 at 5:00 AM

Categories: Announcements

Phife Dog

Some of Phoenix's premier rappers will have a unique chance to share the stage with a hip-hop institution when Phife Dawg of legendary outfit A Tribe Called Quest rocks the mic at Club Red in Tempe, this Friday, June 22.

Not only is it a chance to revel in some of the best proprietors of the local scene, but the occasion also marks a rare opportunity to catch one third of one of hip-hop's most dynamic acts. Tribe's impact on the genre outstretched their native streets of Queens, New York, long ago, when what began in the '90s as an alternative to gangster rap, evolved into a whole new form of intelligent and artistic expression.

The all-local support scheduled to perform that night include: Mouse Powell with DJ LES735, Shining Soul with Darrel D, D3FSTAR, Realistic, Phal Kilmer, and DJ Skip Skoolnik on the main stage, while the second stage will feature JAWA, Optimal, Desert City, El-JayBeats, The Bakers, BSmiley and DJ Organic.

Also on the bill will be school-teacher-turned-full-time emcee, Mega Ran, along with MC Pennywise and Mr. Miranda of the Phoenix collective, The Writer's Guild.

For Mega Ran, the timing coincides with the release of a new music video off of his three-part multimedia series Mega Ran in Language Arts. The music record/comic book/video game project is broken into three volumes. If you can beat the game (which you can play here) you'll unlock a new song meant to serve as the transition between the first two volumes of this lofty experiment.

The music video to "Language Arts (First Day of School)" emulates the rapper's time preaching in the classroom, like he used to do in real life. Check it.