A Tri­be Cal­led Quest was an Ame­ri­can hip hop group for­med in Queens, New York City, in 1985, ori­gi­nal­ly com­po­sed of rap­per and main pro­du­cer Q‑Tip,rapper Phi­fe Dawg, DJ and co-pro­du­cer Ali Shaheed Muham­mad, and rap­per Jaro­bi White. Mem­bers of the Nati­ve Ton­gues coll­ec­ti­ve, the group is regard­ed as a pio­neer of alter­na­ti­ve hip hop, influen­cing num­e­rous hip hop and R&B musicians.

The Nati­ve Ton­gues took their name from a line in the song “Afri­can Cry,” by Motown-off­shoot funk group New Birth, which fea­tures the lyric, “took away our nati­ve tongues.”