A Tribe Called Quest played their last concert in New York - and it was a massive tribute to Phife Dawg

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phife dawg a tribe called quest

Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Panorama

A view of Phife Dawg tribute on the screens as A Tribe Called Quest performs on the Panorama Stage during the 2017 Panorama Music Festival - Day 3 at Randall's Island on July 29, 2017 in New York City.

A Tribe Called Quest announced Sunday that their concert at Panorama Festival would be their last "ever" in New York City. 

Q-Tip made the announcement to the crowd mid-set, stopping the music, and giving a tribute to late A Tribe Called Quest member Phife Dawg, who died due to complications from diabetes in 2016.

Q-Tip announced that Phife Dawg's parents were in the audience and then led the crowd in a chant thanking Phife Dawg. 

An image of the deceased rapper with his hands in prayer against a backdrop of the sky was shown during the tribute and at numerous times throughout the show.  

Q-Tip ended the tribute by playing Phife Dawg's verse, without music, from the song "Butter" off 1991 album "Low-End Theory."

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The hip hop group played a wide-ranging set that pulled from 2016's "We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service"  as well as fan favorites such as "Bonita Applebum. "

Throughout the set, DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad let Phife Dawg's verses and rhymes play, while the video screen focused on an empty microphone placed at the center of the stage. Q-Tip and Tribe member Jairobi White often played off the microphone, trading verses with their absent member.

Case in point:

Phife Dawg had health issues for years, Rolling Stone reported last year. He received a kidney transplant in 2008 in his long battle with Type 1 diabetes.

Towards the end of the set, Q-Tip thanked the crowd for supporting the group since its inception in the 1980s. Q-Tip and Phife Dawg were childhood friends, who originally performed as solo acts in the early 80s, before forming Tribe with Muhammad and White.

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Phife Dawg appeared on all of Tribe's albums, serving as a vocal counterpoint to Q-Tip.

a tribe called quest q tip

Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Panorama

: Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest performs on the Panorama Stage during the 2017 Panorama Music Festival.

Here's another one of the Phife images the group played on the screens:

 And a clip from "Bonita Applebum" for good measure:

Though the group broke up after 1998's "The Love Movement," they have occasionally reunited throughout years. Following the release of 2016's "We Got It From Here ... " the group announced that they would do one final world tour in 2017.

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The group, who remain one of the most important acts in hip-hop history, will play at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco next month.

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