There’s more playfulness on ‘Official’, a track that had been knocking around for years in DJ record boxes. Possibly the best number, ‘Gettin’ Up’ joyously exploits its piano and flute sample from Black Ivory’s soul classic ‘You & I’ and seems to recall a similar feat pulled off by Jurassic-5 on ‘Concrete Schoolyard’. ‘Johnny Is Dead’ is a cracking opener, having first appeared on the Abstract Innovations mixtape, featuring Q-Tip the rapper/singer, while Englishman Mark Ronson is at the mixing desk on track two ‘Won’t Trade’. A superb effort, it combines the more playful sides of Amplified, the organic experimentation on Kamaal/The Abstract and the classic Tribe vibe. In the time between, Q-Tip also managed to pull off some high-profile rap appearances with non-rap acts R.E.M., Chemical Brothers (whose ‘Galvanize’ was nominated for a Grammy) and even Stevie Wonder, not to mention the odd reunion performance with his brothers from ATCQ.įinally, The Renaissance arrived in its final form in 2008, and was the album fans wanted, bridging the gap they had had to endure since Tip, Phife and Muhammad parted company. So in the intervening years between Amplified and the next official album, we had to be content with yet more bloody remains from other rejected projects, such as on the bootlegs Open The Mixtape: Abstract Innovations and Live at the Renaissance. The CD release added bonus track ‘Make It Work’, while the double vinyl format also offered the great number ‘Damn You’re Cool’. Although many judge Kammal to be a far better body of work than the debut LP, fans had to make do with bootleg copies for many years before it was officially release on the Battery imprint in 2009. The short, quiet piano piece ‘Caring’ is a great bridge for stand-out track ‘Even If It Is So’. Album highlights include ‘Feelin’’, ‘Blue Girl’, ‘Barely in Love’, and the wonderfully sexually charged ‘Heels’ which, with its live drummer, doesn’t sound unlike a N.E.R.D.
Interestingly, vocalist Aisha Morris is credited as a contributor and Tip would go on to rap on her father Stevie Wonder’s single ‘So What the Fuss’. Here was Q-Tip the true Abstract, showing his jazz credentials and experimenting with long compositions featuring live musicians providing piano, a splash of rock guitar, soloing organs and psychedelic flutes, not to mention the man trading in a few raps for some low-key opportunities to showcase his singing skills. Kamaal/The Abstract started off with the very best of intentions in 2001, before being shelved by Arista Records for fear of its ‘uncommercial’ appeal. The next offering could not have been more different. So, Amplified is a decent debut, but by no means a triumph. The remaining highlight, ‘Let’s Ride’, is a refreshing and timeless little ditty, featuring an inspiring use of a jazz guitar sample, courtesy of Joe Pass, hooked up to a groovy rattling old drum loop, giving the track a lazy but kickin’ vibe. On ‘Breathe & Stop’ Tip and Dilla perform some seriously syncopated beat surgery on Kool & The Gang’s ‘N.T.’ (the track became a popular tune during the London-based broken beat craze for that very rhythmical reason). Singles ‘Vivrant Thing’ and ‘Breath & Stop’ couldn’t be more varied, the former a real dancefloor groover sampling Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra. But there’s a heck of a lot of filler over the space of 47 minutes.
As with ATCQ’s final long player The Love Movement, the late J-Dilla is on co-production duties and, for the most part, filling the album with trademark clipped beats and sub-bass, as in ‘Things U Do’. Tip’s first solo album Amplified seems to be an attempt to market him as the badass funky rapper for the new thug-obsessed R&B generation, featuring an edgy-looking cover and guest appearances by friend Busta Rhymes and even nu-metal band Korn. With ‘the Quest’, Tip made five albums, including three classics of the genre in the early 90s, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders, as well as getting further exposure on Beastie Boy’s ‘Get It Together’ single from their Ill Communication LP in 1994. Like the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and Queen Latifah, the group formed part of hip hop collective the Native Tongues Posse, effectively followers of ‘The Godfather’ of rap, Afrika Bambaataa, and his Universal Zulu Nation which championed positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics. Growing up in Queens, New York, Q-Tip formed A Tribe Called Quest with pint-sized rapper Phife Dawg and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad way back in 1985. With Q-Tip’s new album The Last Zulu set to hit the stores this summer, we go deep into the Abstract rapper’s career and back catalogue…
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