A Tribe Called Quest has officially been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
ATCQ Inducted Into Rock Hall
On Saturday (Oct. 19), the annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. Hip-hop was represented as A Tribe Called Quest was inducted into the Class of 2024. Dave Chappelle was on hand to induct the group, with Q-Tip, Jarobi and Phife Dawg’s parents accepting the honor. Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad was not present.
Q-Tip delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech.
“What’s more Rock & Roll than the blues?” Tip said while accepting the honor below. “But just like our predecessors, we had to find spaces on the outskirts of cities and towns, from a Southern sun house off Robert Johnson Crossroads to a transformed room in a hood tenement on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. The need to express burns in us with an art-fueled determination. A spark. The spark that embers within many of us in this room, and the spark that burned within the four of us boys in 1985 in New York City.”
The ceremony also included a medley of ATQC songs performed by the group’s contemporaries. Queen Latifah opened the tribute performance with “Can I Kick It?” Black Thought and De La Soul’s Posdnous performed “Check the Rhime.” Common offered a rendition of “Bonita Applebum” and Busta Rhymes was on hand to flip Tribe’s 1992 hit “Scenario.”
Flavor Flav was at the event greeting performers and inductees, who also included Mary J. Blige, Kool & The Gang, Dionne Warwick, Cher, Jimmy Buffett and others.
ATCQ joins a growing list of rappers to be inducted into the Rock Hall including Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z, N.W.A, LL Cool J, Run-DMC and others. Missy Elliott was inducted into the 2023 class.
Read More: Rappers in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Check out Q-Tip’s acceptance speech below.