Photo by Isaiah Trickey for FilmMagic via Getty Images.
A Tribe Called Quest has revealed the release date of Forever, the long-delayed posthumous album from Phife Dawg.
Celebrating what would have been the late rapper’s 51st birthday on Saturday, the group announced Forever is set to arrive on March 22nd, 2022, which will mark the sixth anniversary of Phife’s death. According to Tribe, the album will be executive produced by longtime friend and manager, DJ Rasta Root, on behalf of the rapper’s family and estate. “As we celebrate his life on this day, we are overwhelmed with excitement of completing Forever,” said Phife’s wife, Deisha Taylor. The rapper’s mother was equally enthused to share a release date for her son’s second studio album. “His voice a steel pan cruising the sea salt edge of Trini waters. A balm, a salve, a son’s kiss on his mama’s cheek,” said Cheryl Boyce-Taylor in a press release. “What an amazing gift to receive on my beloved’s birthday.”
Initially announced just weeks after the rapper’s death in 2016 with the J Dilla-produced single “Nutshell,” Forever has seemingly been in the works ever since. In 2017, another single arrived in the Dwele assisted, “Wanna Dance,” but then it was radio silence from the group and the estate until 2020, when Tribe claimed a new Phife album would be landing “early next year.” That didn’t happen, but not too long after the Forever campaign reignited with two alternate versions of “Nutshell” (with accompanying videos, of course,) and a new single with Dilla’s little brother, Illa J.
On March 15th, a week out from the album’s release, Tribe shared the artwork for the album, along with a full tracklist, featuring appearances from De La Soul, Q-Tip, Rapsody, 9th Wonder, Little Brother, and more.
You can read A Tribe Called Quest’s announcement of the new Phife Dawg album below. Scroll on to see the tracklist and cover art.
1. Cheryl’s Big Son (Intro)
2. Only A Coward
3. Fallback (Feat. Rapsody & Renée Neufville)
4. Nutshell Pt. 2 (Feat. Busta Rhymes & Redman)
5. Sorry (Feat. V.Rich)
6. Dear Dilla (Reprise) (Feat. Q-Tip)
7. Wow Factor (Feat. Maseo of De La Soul)
8. Residual Curiosities (Feat. Lyric Jones)
9. God Send (Feat. Dwele)
10. Round Irving High School (Feat. Cheryl Boyce-Taylor & Angela Winbush)
11. French Kiss Trois (Feat. Redman & Illa J)
12. 2 Live Forever (Feat. Pos of De La Soul, Little Brother & Darien Brockington)
13. Forever
This story was updated on March 15th.
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