July 27, 2006 at 08:22:00 AM | more stories by this author
Update of popular pro hoops game features a soundtrack compiled by Dan the Automator and a promo tour of a reunited Tribe Called Quest.
"Coach sat me down from the ball team/Cause I was breakin ni***z on the inseams."
A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg recited that rhyme about his basketball skills on 1993's "8 Million Stories," and basketball--specifically 2K Sports' NBA 2K7 video game and its hip-hop soundtrack--is the impetus for a long-rumored Tribe reunion.
Phife, Q-Tip, and Ali Shaheed Muhammed, the pioneering rap trio at the center of the Native Tongues-conscious hip-hop movement of the early 1990s, are set to play a reunion tour to promote the release of the game and its hip-hop-centric soundtrack, helmed by acclaimed producer Dan the Automator.
Tribe will headline the 14-stop 2K Sports Bounce Tour, which kicks off September 8 in Las Vegas and concludes October 1 in New Jersey. The tour will also feature Kanye West protégé Rhymefest, who cowrote West's hit single "Jesus Walks."
"I think it was just time," Peter Bittenbender of Decon Media, the company putting together the soundtrack, told MTV News. "It was like magic."
The 12-song soundtrack doesn't contain any new Tribe material, but it does include an Automator remix of Tribe's "Lyrics to Go" from 1993's Midnight Marauders. The record also boasts new material from Ghostface Killah, Mos Def, E-40, Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, Slim Thug, Fabolous, and the Hieroglyphics crew, among others.
The soundtrack will hit stores as a stand-alone CD and digital download stores in mid-September. The game will be available for the Xbox 360, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 this fall. A PS3 version is also in development.
In addition to the hip-hop soundtrack, the game will feature some hip-hop all-stars as playable characters in the game, including Phife, Flavor Flav, Common, the Roots' ?uestlove, Slim Thug, Aceyalone, Aesop Rock, and Rakaa of Dilated Peoples.
A Tribe reunion has been the subject of speculation almost from the day the group disbanded in 1998, following its lackluster final album, The Love Movement, and reports of in-fighting between Phife and Q-Tip. Both MCs have seen their solo efforts flop, with Q-Tip's 2002 Kamaal the Abstract never even seeing the light of day.
The group has performed together a handful of times since their breakup eight years ago and has already scheduled a show for the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle in early September.
Here's a track listing for the NBA 2K7 soundtrack:
Dan the Automator - "Intro"
Slim Thug - "I Love This Game"
Rhymefest - "Bang the Ball"
Hieroglyphics - "Don't Hate the Player"
Fabolous - "Ball Til You Fall"
Aceyalone & Rakaa of Dilated Peoples - "Champions"
E-40 & San Quinn - "Baller Blockin'"
Ghostface & A.G. of DITC - "2K007"
Lupe Fiasco & Evidence of Dilated Peoples - "Catch Me"
Mos Def & Anwar Superstar - "Here Comes the Champ"
Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 - "Anchor Man"
Tribe Called Quest - "Lyrics to Go (Automator remix)"
Zion I - "Fade Away"
2K Sports Bounce Tour, featuring A Tribe Called Quest and Rhymefest:
9/8 - Las Vegas, NV - Red Rock
9/9 - Berkeley, CA - Berkeley Community Theatre
9/10 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern LG
9/13 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
9/15 - Chicago, IL - Congress Theatre
9/16 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave/ Eagles Club
9/17 - Toronto, ON - Kool Haus
9/20 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
9/22 - Washington, DC - Love the Club
9/23 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
9/24 - Lake Buena Vista, FL - House of Blues
9/28 - Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
9/29 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
10/1 - Sayreville, NJ - The Starland Ballroom















5 Comments
Oldest First | Newest First