In the 1990s, Q-Tip was one-third of the highly acclaimed hip-hop collective A Tribe Called Quest (one-fourth if you count on-and-off member Jarobi White). A year after the groups breakup in 1998, Q-Tip released his debut solo album Amplified. And, now, nine years later, with the bitter taste of the unreleased Kamaal The Abstract six-years-fresh in his mouth, Q-Tip presents us with his most recent solo project, The Renaissance.Produced almost entirely by Q-Tip, The Renaissance is full with reverberated piano loops, hollering soul samples, and rolling bass-lines (crazy on "Man/Womanboogie").
The album begins with the song "Johnny Dead," and it doesn't take long for Q-Tip's unbelievably recognizable high-pitched voice to join the echoing guitar chords.
The Mark Ronson co-produced track "Won't Trade," features Tip's finest lyrical flow, "the physical ability, with mental capability, legitimately places me, inside a'ya vicinity, and i ain't really seeing my vacating this community." It is reminiscent of his verse on the later half of "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)" from Tribe's Midnight Marauders ("I am recognizing that the voice inside my head...").
Led by a sample from 70s R&B group Black Ivory, the album's lead single, "Getting Up," seems like it was made for one of those choreographed neighborhood dance-scenes framed by tree-lined avenues and Brooklyn brownstones.
Other notable tracks on the album are: "We Fight/We Love" featuring Raphael Saadiq; "Man/Womanboogie" featuring Amanda Diva; "Move," what should have been the album's first single, produced by the late J Dilla; "Believe" featuring D'Angelo (where the fuck has he been?); "Dance on Glass," the veteran's mild critique of elements in today's hip-hop; and the album's final track "Shaka," probably the most appealing song to any Tribe addict.
The Renaissance is an album for those who like hip-hop and those who like R&B, and don't mind the two being mixed freely. Q-Tip doesn't pick up where The Love Movement left off, and it would be a mistake to press play and expect that. It's his album, and his alone.
He doesn't choose "safe tracks" either. There is a certain confidence that Q-Tip didn't prioritize receptivity and cute hooks. The album seems geniune. It is not to be thrown into the circus of RIAA certification and first-week album sales. If he wanted all of that he would've fallen into the deep - and very prevalent - abyss of 808s and hi-hats. Without doubt, Q-Tip retains his artistic credibility and most profoundly, his stature as one of hip-hop's supreme veterans.
Peace and much Love. I'm out.
