Phife Dawg: 10 years without the Five-Foot Assassin
Ten years ago, on March 22, 2016, hip-hop lost a legend. Phife Dawg, the Five-Foot Assassin, died in his home in California. He was only 45.
Phife had, for many years, been struggling with the effects of his diabetes, which he was diagnosed with in 1990. Over the years he had suffered bouts of serious illness due to his condition, and, in 2016, it finally took its ultimate toil. He died months before A Tribe Called Quest’s final album, We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, was released.
Phife rarely, if ever, tops lists of the greatest rappers of all time, and it’s probably fair to suggest that not many people even consider him to be the best rapper in Tribe. Q-Tip tends to be seen as the group’s leader and its best rapper, but it was precisely the chemistry between the two men that made the group what it was. For all the exquisite production and lyrical ingenuity of A Tribe Called Quest’s music in general, things were at their best when Tip and Phife played off each other.
Phife, whose parents were both Trinidadian immigrants, had a rapping style that was explicitly informed by his roots, with his voice at times bearing a clear Caribbean twang and his lyrics sometimes specifically addressing them. “To Jah I give thanks, collect my banks, listen to Shabba Ranks,” as he raps on ‘Jazz (We’ve Got).’
After increasing his contributions to A Tribe Called Quest from their second album onwards, Phife became a key member and helped to make the group into the pioneering legends that they are. But throughout that period he struggled with his diabetes, which he never shied away from. Characterising himself as the “funky diabetic” on the Midnight Marauders track ‘Oh My God,’ he never lost his humour about his condition.
But it was serious, and it took a terrible toll on him. “I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1990,” he explained to Dazed in 2011. “Being a diabetic is a 24/7 type of job, 365 days.”
What helped Phife, during this period, was making music with his group. “So just being in the studio, hanging with the group, just the camaraderie in general took my mind off it,” he said. “Music was always therapeutic for me.”
But as the years went on, his condition worsened and, in 2008, he needed a new kidney. His wife donated one of hers, and, for a period, it seemed to work. Phife, in that Dazed interview, was upbeat about things, noting, “Everything is cool, everything is balanced.” But, sadly, it ultimately proved unsuccessful and the following year he needed another transplant.
Diabetes, in the end, got the better of Phife Dawg, and he died before his time. Ten years have already passed since his death, but, to this day, his legacy as an artist lives on. In 2024, along with his Tribe bandmates, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and his artistry remains as respected as ever.
Reflecting on his legacy with Tribe, Phife insisted to Dazed that the group had worked because they’d stayed true to themselves. “We didn’t try to be nobody else but ourselves,” he said. “I’m still taken back when people call us pioneers. But we’re just human. Things happen. From health and beef, to loving each other. I mean it’s all part of life — you can’t have beats and rhymes without life.”