New Release: Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest Blu-ray and DVD

Release Date: Oct. 18, 2011
Price: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray $35.99
Studio: Sony Picture Homes Entertainment


Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest movie scene

The careers of hip hop legends are chornicled in Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

Documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest chronicles the past, present and uncertain future of the influential hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest and its members, Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White.

Formed in Queens in the mid-1980s, the group is highly regarded for innovatively mixing jazz infused soundscapes with Afro-centric rhymes. Their innovation created a new sound that kicked off the hip hop movement that still dominates the music scene today.

A passion project of sorts for actor Michael Rapaport (Big Fan), in his feature film directorial debut, the music-and-performance-filled documentary features interviews with the members of the group and a menagerie of the hip hop elite, including Pharrell, Pete Rock, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and Common — all of whom expressed adoration, respect and gratitude to the group for their major contributions to music.

Beats, Rhymes & Life had a limited run in theaters in July, grossing $1.1 million, and was generally well-received by film and music critics.

The Blu-ray and DVD contain the following bonus features:

  • commentary with director Michael Rapaport
  • three featurettes
    • “Mike’s Journey”
    • “Bringing Beats to Life”
    • “On the Red Carpet at the Los Angles Film Festival Premiere”
  • deleted scenes
  • extended and alternate scenes
Buy or Rent Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.