Watch A TV Traffic Reporter’s Sly Phife Dawg Tribute
There have been dozens if not hundreds of Phife Dawg tributes rolling in following the news of his death this morning, many of which came from fellow rappers, of course. But homage was paid to the A Tribe Called Quest icon from at least one very unlikely source today: Traffic reporter Mark Arum of Atlanta’s ABC affiliate WBS-TV incorporated some of the Funky Diabetic’s more memorable lines into his traffic reports throughout the morning. It’s kind of corny — as pretty much all broadcast news is — but I worked in that world for a minute, so I can authoritatively say that it’s cool of Arum’s higher-ups to let him do this, and he worked Phife’s lyrics into the copy pretty naturally. He even got his news anchors to get in on it and ask, “You on point, Mark?” Something tells me the five-footer would have appreciated this. Watch.