Phife Dawg

Malik Izaak Taylor (November 20, 1970 – March 22, 2016), known professionally as Phife Dawg (or simply Phife), was a Trinidadian-American rapper and a member of the group A Tribe Called Quest with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (and for a short time Jarobi White). He was also known as the "Five-Foot Assassin" and the "Five-Footer," because he stood at 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m).

Early life

Phife Dawg was born Malik Izaak Taylor on November 20, 1970, in Queens, New York City, the son of Trinidadian immigrant parents Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, a poet, and Walt Taylor. His mother settled in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens when she was 13 years old, and Phife Dawg was raised in the same neighborhood. Born prematurely, his twin brother Mikal died shortly after birth. He was a cousin of writer Zinzi Clemmons.

He first met his friend Q-Tip at the age of two. At nine years old, Phife Dawg suggested that they should rap, after hearing "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang for the first time. He attended Pine Forge Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school near Philadelphia, for his freshman year of high school, later transferring to Springfield Gardens High School in Queens.

Career

Phife Dawg formed A Tribe Called Quest, then simply named Quest, with Q-Tip and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad in 1985; the group was later expanded with the addition of Jarobi White. A Tribe Called Quest were closely associated with fellow hip-hop acts De La Soul and Jungle Brothers, with the groups collectively known as the Native Tongues. A Tribe Called Quest was initially offered a demo deal by Geffen Records in 1989, but signed to Jive Records to release its 1990 début People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.