“Baby Phife’s Return” is Phife Dawg’s solo showcase on the album. Phife slightly withdrew from the group during the recording of Beats, Rhymes, and Life, moving to Atlanta after touring for the group’s 1993 album Midnight Marauders. Phife recalled the group’s vibe at the time on the documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest:

I thought A Tribe Called Quest was done after Midnight Marauders. […] By the time we got to Beats, Rhymes and Life […] the chemistry was dead. Shot. […] [Q-Tip] was a control freak, still is a control freak. He’s babbling off, ‘We’re gonna do it like this, we’re gonna do it like that.’ So after a while, it became ‘Whatever. Do what you want.’ But when I finally picked up and bounced to Atlanta, now it becomes ‘Oh, so he can just pick up and leave? Oh, I’m in charge of this group. How he just gonna do that?’ I’m like ‘Dude, I’m in a group with you. You’re not my daddy.’ And this is my feeling. And I love you, Kamaal. But the whole MO to me was it’s not A Tribe Called Quest. It’s Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest. It’s Diana Ross and the Supremes.

In lieu of the group’s changing dynamics, Q-Tip wanted what was best for the group, and thought it was only fitting Phife have his own song on the album. On his verses, Phife bounces from thought to thought, incorporating metaphors and asides that bring listeners back for repeat listens.

Phife would later claim that his favorite verse was his first verse on the “Baby Phife’s Return.”