First of all, in light of the Brussells attacks, I must say that I am (as always in these cases) deeply saddened by this tragedy, and my thoughts and prayers go out to each and every one of the victims and their families, friends and colleagues.
I feel the need to say this because otherwise you are always going to feel like you're trivialising such events when it appears that you're not being vocal about them and talking about other things. But in reality, it goes without saying, and nobody should make you feel bad about whether you put up a flag on social media or not.
Plus Daesh don't deserve to see our pain, only our solidarity when they attempt such moronic ill-thought out ways of trying to get the West to listen.
Anyway, that's a whole other blog entry I may or may not decide to write at some point and not what I want to get in to right now.
Alas, in amongst the sadness of current event my sadness today was further deepened by the news that a member of one of my all-time favourite hip-hop groups, A Tribe Called Quest, has passed away.
This group have been a big part of my musical life, one of the first I ever heard and one that shaped the music (and particularly the hip-hop) I listened to as I have travelled through life.
So that means that Phife Dawg was part of my life. A big part of it that I never really acknowledged with quite so much certainty until today.
I could write an entire post about what ATCQ have done as hip-hop pioneers, and indeed, Phife's role within that, but all I feel I need to do today is say firstly that 2016 is racking up some major talent up there in the big blue yonder, and secondly, listen to A Tribe Called Quest.
Thanks Phife, thanks for the music, thanks for being influential. May you rest in peace.
