Revisit the Time Q-Tip Discovered His African Ancestry

Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest takes a DNA test to trace his African roots in this Okayafrica TV video originally from January 2012.

Revisit the Time Q-Tip Discovered His African Ancestry

It’s no secret that the music of A Tribe of Called Quest was, and dare we say continues to be, heavily influenced by its members’ African roots. On Friday, the group will release their final album, We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service. With just a few days to go before Tribe’s fond farewell, we thought we’d revisit the time Q-Tip discovered his ancestry as part of our Roots Of… series.


In the Okayafrica TV video below, originally from January 2012, the rapper can be seen taking a DNA test to trace his maternal ancestry back to a specific country and, yes, tribe, that he comes from.

“I really want to know about where my people come from because I feel like it just answers a lot of questions for me,” Tip said as he took the cheek swab. “Spiritually, there’s a bunch of generational psychological things that could be answered as well. It’s a lot of intrigue for me.”

So, is The Last Zulu in fact of Zulu lineage? Press play in the video below to find out!

For more on We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service, Okayplayer’s got pretty much everything you need to know and more.

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