Music Insights
Video Views by JC: Phife Dawg – Nutshell Pt. 2 (Official Music Video) [ft. Busta Rhymes & Redman]
On the anniversary of his passing, Malik Taylor has more to say.
Phife Dawg dropped Nutshell Pt. 2 from the pearly gates yesterday, a sequel to 2016’s Nutshell, and sittin’ on cloud must suit cause he’s in fine form. The lyrical assassin of Tribe Called Quest infamy lost his battle with diabetes in 2016, around the same he was working to complete an album. That album has been in the works for a few years behind the scenes, produced by his estate, but is announced to finally land later this year. Forever follows in the footsteps of the many posthumous rap releases before it – but there’s no deep fake stuff here. At least as far as we know. The music vid for Nutshell Pt 2 opens in the booth of a neighbourhood diner, where legends of hip hop casually wait on a coffee top up, laying down iconic MCing with the greatest ease.
Peep the rebirth of the reborn as I rebuild –
had to refuel,
reactivate to reemerge,
reevaluate, recalculate..
Bitch, I’ve returned!
Uh-huh, uh-huh. 90’s hip hop heads will snap to Phife’s lyrical percussive as he slays the smoothest rhymes since simpler times. The music video features real footage of Phife – he worked on the video before his passing – and the familiarity of the sound and sight of the real McCoy is a balm for the weary musical soul.
Check out Nutshell to find out if Phife can still kick it – (yes he can).