In a jazz tribute to A Tribe Called Quest, Malcolm-Jamal Warner has been performing for a little over a year, but their influence on him dates back decades.
The well-known actor stated in an interview that the 1990 music video for the group’s debut track, “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo,” was the moment when he first fell in love with the legendary Hip Hop collective.
“It was weird. But at the same time it was almost a welcome weird, because it was different,” Warner said. “It wasn’t the typical aggressive ‘Arrr,’ but there was something. It was weird, but there was something fly about it.
“Just the beats and I guess the samples they chose, it just gave you a different vibe that I think Hip Hop at the time needed because it was different,” he continued. “I think that was the thing, how it would manage to be weird but not soft.”
Malcolm-Jamal Warner knew he had to get involved with the performance when Atlanta musician Dashill Smith’s live homage to A Tribe Called Quest, “We Got The Jazz: The Jazz Of A Tribe Called Quest,” was scheduled for December 2021 and the Cosby Show alum and his wife chose to go.
