A Tribe Called Quest – “The Space Program” Video
About six months ago, a Tribe Called Quest played what they’re calling their last show ever. After the passing of the beloved group member Phife Dawg, they’d managed to put together their staggeringly great reunion album We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service and played a series of moving festival sets. And now they’ve left behind one final stirring artifact: An epic video for the We Got It From Here track “The Space Program.”
In director Warren Fu’s eight-minute clip, Q-Tip plays an astronaut who floats through zero-gravity and plays chess against a literally faceless white politician. The video’s vision of Phife Dawg, weirdly powerfully, is a glowing green orb that seems to channel his lyrics. Images of iconic civil-rights moments flash on screens, and the spaceship goes through a moment of peril.
Meanwhile, a whole lot of special guests show up for quick cameos. The extensive list includes Black Thought, Erykah Badu, Vince Staples, Pharrell Williams, Common, Talib Kweli, ?uestlove, Rosario Dawson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Consequence, Alicia Keys, Janelle Monaé, and Anderson .Paak. Right now, the video is an Apple Music exclusive, and if you’re signed in, you can watch it here.
We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service is out now on Epic.