"1nce Again" is a song by A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...

, released as the first single from their fourth album Beats, Rhymes and Life

Beats, Rhymes and Life

Beats, Rhymes and Life is the fourth album of the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Released in 1996, it followed three years after the highly regarded and successful Midnight Marauders. This album is a departure from the joyful, positive vibe of the earlier albums and is regarded as the group's...

. It contains samples of "I'm Your Pal" by Gary Burton

Gary Burton

Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...

 and "Untitled" by Cannonball Adderley ("Aha", "Yeah Ya'll"), while the chorus is sung by Tammy Lucas. The song was the first ATCQ single to feature co-production by the late Jay Dee

J Dilla

James Dewitt Yancey , better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan...

. Certain lyrics have a resemblance to "Check the Rhime

Check the Rhime

"Check the Rhime" was the first single from A Tribe Called Quest's second album The Low End Theory. It is one of the group's most famous songs and is well known for lines such as Q-Tip's "Industry rule #4,080: Record company people are shady". The Beastie Boys have a similar lyric in their song "In...

", a previous single from the group's second album The Low End Theory

The Low End Theory

The Low End Theory is the second album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Released on September 24, 1991 through Jive Records, the album produced three singles: "Check the Rhime," "Jazz ," and "Scenario."-Conception:...

. Despite the album's mixed reviews, the song was a hit, as was the second single "Stressed Out

Stressed Out

"Stressed Out" was the second single from A Tribe Called Quest's fourth album Beats, Rhymes and Life. The song featured Faith Evans on the chorus and production by The Ummah.-Music video:...

". It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group

Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group

The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance....

in 1997.

Music video

The music video begins with the group recreating the "Check the Rhime" video, with a crowd cheering, but Phife notices that the police have come to arrest them, so the group runs into a cleaner's store to hide. Throughout the video, the group runs through different sections of the store while rapping; Tammy Lucas is there, singing the chorus. At the end, the police see the group running away, up a flight of stairs. The group get on the roof, at night, and they jump off the building as the video ends. The video is directed by Hype Williams.