Jarobi White
Jarobi White (born July 1, 1971) is an American hip hop artist, chef, and one of the four original members of A Tribe Called Quest. In the early 2010s, Jarobi formed evitaN with Dres, formerly of Black Sheep. Their first album, Speed of Life, was released in October 2012.
Career
White joined A Tribe Called Quest in the late 1980s as a part-time member.[1] Although he did not rhyme on the albums, he came up with ideas for songs like "I Left My Wallet In El Segundo," which became a single off the group's first album. He also contributed to versions of the songs "Push It Along," "Youthful Expression," and "Can I Kick It?" He also appeared in five of the 13 music videos the group filmed. He left the group in 1991 to attend culinary school. He continued to produce songs with former bandmates DJ Rasta Root and Phife Dawg until the latter's death in 2016.
He appeared only on one album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. He had actual vocals recorded for the Tribe's second album, The Low End Theory, but when he left the group they were removed. He was mentioned in a skit on Midnight Marauders—the members of the group are listed followed by the phrase "A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y," with the final letter referring to the fact that White was only an occasional member.[2] He was also mentioned on Phife's solo album Ventilation: Da LP.
As a part of the Native Tongues crew, White appeared on "Pease Porridge" by De La Soul, on its 1991 album De La Soul Is Dead, which features several other Native Tongues emcees as well.
In 2006, White joined A Tribe Called Quest on stage during its performance at the Bumbershoot festival.[3] He is also the manager of Washington D.C.-based rapper Head-Roc.[4]
He was honored along with the rest of A Tribe Called Quest in VH1's fourth annual Hip Hop Honors ceremony. In August 2010, Jarobi joined the other three members of A Tribe Called Quest on stage for the Rock the Bells concert festival. In 2016, he returned to appear on the final A Tribe Called Quest album, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, actually rapping on one of their albums for the first (and presumably last) time.
Discography
- 1990: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (with Q-Tip, Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad as A Tribe Called Quest)
- 2012: Speed of Life (with Dres as Evitan)
- 2016: We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service (with A Tribe Called Quest)
References
- ↑ Light, Alan, ed. (1999). The Vibe History of Hip-Hop. New York, New York: Three Rivers Press. p. 190.
- ↑ Midnight Marauders, Track 7, "We Can Get Down."
- ↑ "A Tribe Called Quest Still Kick It". Spin. 2006-09-05. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
- ↑ "Head Roc Interview". ukhh.com. 2005-07-28. Retrieved 2010-01-27.