KRS-One Memorializes Phife Dawg With “The Phife Tribute” Produced by DJ Static

KRS-One is the latest MC to memorialize Phife Dawg on wax by dropping "The Phife Tribute" over the weekend (April 10). Over a freshly boomin' DJ Static-produced beat, the Bronx-born hip-hop vet goes in, praising Phife and his strong-willed family for contributing to the rap world for so many years.

"Have you seen him?/Ripping down shows with flows/Have you seen him?/Phife Dawg, get up and go!/Have you seen him? Spitting that classic art/Have you seen him?/Phife Dawg stay in our hearts...I rememeber A Tribe Called Quest and the K-R-S/Rippin' down the Car Wash in the L-E-S/Car Wash was the spot where I saw Phife rappin'/The Five Foot Assassin/The Whole place was packed in/Born November 20, 1970/I'm spittin' this for Phife Dawg/This is what he meant to me/Or meant to us, ashes to ashes and dust to dust/Phife Dawg influenced all of us."

Below the four-minute old school banger, the bandcamp description prompts fans of the fallen hip-hop hero to get involved. With a minimum donation of $5 to the site, KRS-One wants other MC's to show what they got and spit their sixteen bars in honor of Phife.

"If you are a real MC then lay down your 16 bars! In honor of, Phife Dawg. Hashtag, #ThePhifeTribute to spread the word," reads the description.

KRS's new freestyle is just another example of rappers showing and proving in Phife's illustrious memory. In the wake of his unexpected March 22 death, Kendrick Lamar has paid tribute to Phife in concert, Mac Miller dropped a tribute remix under his producer moniker and Kanye West delivered an impassioned speech at Phife's memorial service at the Apollo Theater, saying that A Tribe Called Quest raised him.

Real fans and rappers alike can purchase the new track for a donation of $5 on Bandcamp now. As KRS says in the intro to his bars, "Hip-hop speaks from Heaven."

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