A Tribe Called Quest’s newest album is loaded with sports references

It should come as no surprise that some of rap’s earliest hits contained lyrical references to sports. The Sugar Hill Gang spoke of Muhammad Ali and the Knicks in “Rapper’s Delight,” Melle Mel laments that he can’t watch the Sugar Ray fight in “The Message.” Dropping names of athletes and teams has been somewhat of a minor hallmark of the music. In the lineage of superfan emcees, few are more noted and beloved than the late Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest. Who can forget him leading off the posse cut “Scenario” with “Ayo Bo knows this/And Bo knows that/But Bo don’t know jack/’Cause Bo can’t rap”?

Days ago, Tribe dropped their first album in 18 years, We Got It From Here, to universal acclaim and adulation; but it came against the somber backdrop of Phife’s passing earlier this year. If anything could begin to balance Phife leaving too soon, it was hearing the team together again, especially after a somewhat acrimonious breakup.

And one thing was clear, Phife and his compadres can still spit those sports-based punchlines like no other.

With bars from Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Jarobi, Busta Rhymes, and Consequence, here is a breakdown of each of the nine references to sports on A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got it From Here.

“The Space Program” — Q-Tip and Phife Dawg

“For non-conformists, one hitter quitters / For Tyson types, and Che figures”: Tribe is bringing everyone together. Also, an army of people who are all either similar to heavyweight champion Mike Tyson or former South American guerrilla leader Che Guevara would most likely obliterate any foe that stood in their way.

“We the People” — “Phife Dawg

“Fuck y’all know about true competition? / That’s like an AL pitcher on deck talkin’ about he hittin”: Phife, like just about any baseball fan, knows that American League pitchers don’t have to bat because of the designated hitter. Phife is telling his opponents that they know as much about competition as an AL pitcher knows about batting, which is very, very little.

“Like Tony Romo when he hitting Witten, The tribe be the best in they division”: Unfortunately, Phife did not live to see the Cowboys’ 8-1 start to 2016. If he did, he would know that it’s not Romo, but instead it’s the Dak Prescott-to-Witten connection that’s propelled the team to the top of the division.

“Dis Generation” — Q Tip and Phife Dawg

“Handle rocks with a capital G, ball on the beat / status Chris Paul or John Wall in the league”: Tip and Phife, tossing the mic back and forth, are running the show here as efficiently as the league’s best little guys. The duo, like Paul and Wall in the NBA, are established All-Stars of the rap game.

“Dis Generation” — Busta Rhymes

“Bruce Leein’ n*****, while you n***** UFC, smoke tree on n*****, sizzle out your USB”: Let the following comparison serve as the explanation.

Busta Rhymes style of fighting:

Your style of fighting:

“Dis Generation” — Jarobi

“I been in NYC waiting for that law to pass / Pass shit, been waiting for a Jets’ title since last / Richard Todd, Todd Bowles, gang green on that ass”: Jarobi was 5 years old in 1976, the same year that the Jets selected Alabama quarterback Richard Todd in the NFL draft to replace Joe Namath. Forty titleless years later, Jarobi is still waiting, and it doesn’t look like head coach Todd Bowles will be leading the 3-7 Jets to anywhere but an early vacation.

“Mobius” — Consequence

“So Swaggy, could’ve broke up with IG / I ain’t surprised that they broke up on IG”: This is a reference to Nick “Swaggy P” Young’s engagement to Iggy Azalea. The couple’s breakup, though not on IG (Instagram), did come to a social-media-based demise.

“Ego” — Q-Tip

“The ego makes you do it, it makes you face the music / or run away from life so fast that you’ll outsprint Carl Lewis”: Carl Lewis, the ten time gold-medal winning sprinter and former 100m world-record holder, is really fast. The human ego can make you run away from life’s harsh realities at warped speed.

“I’ll take the biggest house in Calabasas / Anyone for Michael Phelps swimming lessons?”: Ego drives Q-Tip to want all of the finest things in life. Living in Calabasas, a city in Los Angeles County most popularly known for residents like the Kardashians, Kanye West, and Drake, would position Tip at the top. Also, who needs swimming lessons from the YMCA when you have the dough to hire Michael Phelps to teach you how not to drown.

Rest In Peace,

Looking down from above, or wherever he may be, Phife Dawg can rest easy knowing his fellow Tribe members and associates are carrying on his sports-punchline legacy.