Photo courtesy of MikaV, 1999, via Wikimedia Commons
Malik Izaak Taylor (1970-2016), known professionally as Phife Dawg, was an American rapper raised in Saint Albans. Taylor co-founded the rap group A Tribe Called Quest in 1985 with his classmates Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Their biggest hit came in 1991, with the single “Can I Kick It?” The group went on to release five albums that sold millions of copies. Its album “Midnight Marauders” is often ranked as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. Taylor also released a solo album in 2000 called “Ventilation: Da LP.” He died of complications from diabetes in 2016.
Queens -- particularly the intersection of Linden Boulevard and 192nd Street -- was a fixture in A Tribe Called Quest’s rhymes, most notably on “Check The Rhime,” “Steve Biko (Stir It Up)” and “1nce Again.”
Jason Newman, “A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg Dead at 45,” Rolling Stone, March 23, 2016, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/a-tribe-called-quests-phife-dawg-dead-at-45-109271/
"Stated Minutes of July 14, 2016," New York City Council, https://a860-gpp.nyc.gov/concern/nyc_government_publications/df65v8512?locale=en
Omar Burgess, “Here’s Everything That Happened at Phife Dawg’s Street Naming Ceremony in Queens,” Complex, November 19, 2016, https://www.complex.com/music/2016/11/phife-dawg-way-street-unveiling