Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor Way

Malik Izaak Taylor (1970-2016), known professionally as Phife Dawg, was an American rapper raised in Saint Albans. Taylor co-founded the rap group A Tribe Called Quest in 1985 with his classmates Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Their biggest hit came in 1991, with the single “Can I Kick It?” The group went on to release five albums that sold millions of copies. Its album “Midnight Marauders” is often ranked as one of the best hip-hop albums of all time. Taylor also released a solo album in 2000 called “Ventilation: Da LP.” He died of complications from diabetes in 2016.

Queens -- particularly the intersection of Linden Boulevard and 192nd Street -- was a fixture in A Tribe Called Quest’s rhymes, most notably on “Check The Rhime,” “Steve Biko (Stir It Up)” and “1nce Again.”

Sources:

Jason Newman, “A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg Dead at 45,” Rolling Stone, March 23, 2016, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/a-tribe-called-quests-phife-dawg-dead-at-45-109271/

"Stated Minutes of July 14, 2016," New York City Council, https://a860-gpp.nyc.gov/concern/nyc_government_publications/df65v8512?locale=en

Omar Burgess, “Here’s Everything That Happened at Phife Dawg’s Street Naming Ceremony in Queens,” Complex, November 19, 2016, https://www.complex.com/music/2016/11/phife-dawg-way-street-unveiling