Heds and Dreds: Annotated Tribe Called Quest for the Unseasoned Patois Interpeter

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HONOREBEL MENTION
July 12, 2011


4. “His Name is Mutty Ranks”

This is the closest Tribe ever came to putting a straight-up reggae chune on one of their albums. For this short Love Movement track, Phife reinvented himself as deejay Mutty Ranks, quoting the “Live and Direct” version of Aswad’s “Not Guilty” (Live and direct/You know what live and direct mean? Cooooommmeeeeee) for the dubplate-style intro, and moving between patois and American English: Have you ever wonder what make a crowd rock?/Tribe Called Quest we ah go do it nonstop/Listen to the radio we never going pop/Cause yuh no ready for dis yet, bwoy/Say you nuh ready/Say you nuh ready for this yet, bwoy.