The phantom of the hip-hopera?

August 15, 2005 7:00 PM

Why does Q-Tip wear a mask in the "Hot Sex on a Platter" video?

Thanks to MTV.com, I recently took in some old Tribe Called Quest videos, and saw the "Hot Sex on a Platter" video for the first time. Q-Tip wears a fairly out-of-place mask throughout. The only Google reference I can find is in the XXL forums, claiming the Wreckx 'N Effex crew beat him up. But being that the poster didn't even spell Wreckx 'N Effex correctly, I'd like to find a more reliable/definitive answer.

posted by VulcanMike to law & government (10 comments total)

Do you have a link to the video - I haven't heard that song in freakin' EVAR.

And wasn't there a mask thing going on in Boomerang, the soundtrack of which Hot Sex on a Platter was released on.
posted by jmgorman at 7:37 PM on August 15, 2005

It's true. Wreckx N Effects, known best for "Rump Shaker", are known second best for assaulting Q-Tip so badly that his vision was permanently damaged (he didn't need his now ubiquitious glasses before the attack). Another side effect is the "Hot Sex" video, where he donned the mask after preliminary test footage showed that makeup wasn't going to be able to hide the damage.

Why did Wreckx N Effect kick the crap out of Q-Tip? Remember "Jazz"?

Strictly hardcore tracks, not a new jack swing.

It's kind of hard to believe now, but there was a time when people were taking new jack swing halfway seriously. Teddy Riley, the father of the style, as well as his significantly less talented brother Markell, were in Wreckx N Effect and didn't take kindly to that line. Of course, there were plenty of other rappers piling on new jack swing at the time -- off the top of my head, Ice Cube's And you can New Jack swing on my nuts! is one of the most memorable -- but the brothers Riley weren't looking for a real fight. They were looking for someone to make an example out of, even if it wasn't actually him but Phife who said the offending line. Hence, asskicking.

A real beef started out of this, but it was quickly squashed when both parties agreed to settle their differences through a dialogue with the Nation of Islam as mediators.

I wish I could source this for you, but it's all from memory as it happened, as reported in various issues of The Source.
posted by sun-el at 8:54 PM on August 15, 2005

My equally hip-hop historian loving friend says it was the Zulu Nation that settled the beef, not the Nation of Islam. I'm pretty sure it was the NOI, but I have been wrong before. Once. Maybe.
posted by sun-el at 9:06 PM on August 15, 2005

I was thinking Zulu Nation (with whom Quest has had a relationship since the Native Tongues days, right?) too, but I could definitely be wrong.

(Not to derail) So, when Tony Toni Tone! sampled the Ice Cube line in 'If I Had No Loot,' were they dissing Cube subliminally, or were they trying to distinguish themselves from the New Jack Swing crowd?
posted by box at 9:13 PM on August 15, 2005

What was new jack swing?
posted by delmoi at 1:46 AM on August 16, 2005

Bobby Brown, those guys who produced the last Human League album and a bunch of other bum.
posted by asok at 4:18 AM on August 16, 2005

wow. fascinating question/answer. thanks guys.
posted by fishfucker at 11:58 AM on August 16, 2005

Yeah, thanks a ton for this Q/A. I loved Tribe as a youngster, but had never heard this story before. Thanks.
posted by emoeby at 4:19 PM on August 16, 2005

Thanks sun-el, et al. Awed, as always, by the knowledge in AskMeta.

delmoi: New Jack Swing wikipedia entry.
posted by VulcanMike at 1:42 PM on August 20, 2005

Videos here.
posted by VulcanMike at 12:40 PM on December 2, 2005