The New York group pay tribute to the late Tribe member.

A Tribe Called Quest appeared on last night’s (November 12) Saturday Night Live to perform two new tracks, ‘We the People….’ and ‘The Space Program’, alongside host Dave Chappelle – who stepped in to deliver a biting monologue on the US election.

Tribe’s new album, We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, holds particular poignancy for the group and their fans as it was recorded before Tribe member Phife Dawg passed away earlier this year. Last night, remaining members Q-Tip and Jarobi White paid tribute to Phife’s memory with a powerful performance of ‘We The People….’ that announced the Queens rapper’s verse by unfurling a colourful banner adorned with his face and keeping it onstage for the remainder of the song.

Frequent collaborators Busta Rhymes and Consequence dropped in for second track, ‘The Space Program’, while Jarobi wore a t-shirt throughout emblazoned with one word: “Phife.”

Elsewhere on SNL – the first new episode since Trump’s win – host Dave Chappelle revived his acclaimed stand-up act to riff on the election. Chappelle delivered some much-needed comic relief via a caustic monologue inspired by Trump’s win, declaring what we all know to be depressingly true: “America has actually elected an internet troll as its president.” However, he ended by wishing Donald Trump luck: “I’m going to give him a chance. And we, the historically disenfranchised, demand that he give us one too.”

Yesterday, A Tribe Called Quest unveiled the full album credits for their sixth and final star-studded album, which not only samples Can and Black Sabbath but features a mixed bag of guests – with Jack White playing guitar on ‘The Donald’ and André 3000 offering a co-wrote on ‘Kids.’