Vision Quest

In the meantime, he is working on getting his license to become a sports agent for his management company, Edge Sports and Entertainment. He also serves as vice president of entertainment and operations for the St. Louis-based Edge, where he has plans to help launch the careers of some up-and-coming rap acts.

His goal as VP, as well as in his solo career, is to try to help elevate rap beyond what he sees as the narrow parameters established by the industry and other so-called trendsetters. He simply has too much vested interest to let the art form deteriorate.

Now making solo records, Phife Dawg (center) is a fixture in the dog-eat-dog world of hip-hop.

Details

With Phife Dawg, Slum Village, Jerobi, Schoolz of Thought and Mystic
9 p.m. Thursday, July 19, $21, 303-443-3399

Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder

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More About

• Q-Tip (Rapper)
• Phife Dawg
• A Tribe Called Quest
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Conscious Rap

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"I'll be damned if I'll let these non-MC jerks take it over and fuck it up, and I think a lot of artists feel that way," he says. "We've worked too damn hard to bring it where it is for people to bring it down, saying nonsense all the time. If you're spoon-feeding one thing only, they're just going to run with that, whereas this rapper over here might have a lot to bring to the table, but he's totally ignored. It's not cool. I think hip-hop needs to be a little more diverse. We should all appreciate where it has gone and what it's doing. Why not give back by keeping it real?"

As a Top Dawg, Phife has elevated himself to a position where he can give something back by serving up more balanced musical offerings. Still, the question remains: Will anyone come to the table?