Another big release. Q-Tip is back with his newest album, and even though I don’t know much about this project I know he’ll come correct as he always does. Here’s a quick blurb I came across:

The Renaissance mixes soul beats, piano, guitars, and Q-Tip’s usual thought-provoking lyricism, which takes you on a trip from relationships and summer songs to social issues of late, and has a kind of 90’s feel to it.

The album features: Raphael Saadiq, Norah Jones, D’Angelo and Amanda Diva.

Tracklist after the jump. Buy the CD here.

ARTiST…….: q-tip
ALBUM……..: the renaissance
GENRE……..: rap TRACKS…: 12
RELEASE DATE.: 00/00/2008 SiZE…..: 51,1 MB
YEAR………: 2008 SOURCE…: cdda
LABEL……..: Universal QUALiTY..: lame3.97 V2
PLAYTIME…..: 43:17 min

01. johnny is dead 03:02
02. wont trade 02:41
03. gettin up 03:18
04. official 03:19
05. you 03:02
06. we fight / love (feat. raphael saadiq) 04:47
07. manwomanboggie (feat. amanda diva) 03:06
08. move 05:49
09. dance on glass 03:02
10. life is better (feat. norah jones) 04:41
11. believe (feat. d’angelo) 02:57
12. shaka 03:33

Total: 43:17 min

Modern hip-hop and R&B music can both arguably be divided
into pre- and post-A Tribe Called Quest, and the musical
efforts of its lead MC and producer Kamaal Ibn John
Fareed–better known to the world as Q-Tip. Consider the
jazzy sampling, laid-back tempos and boho-chic vibe he
introduced, then mull over the bohemian posturing and
sounds of the neo-soul movement, plus any rap music that
shies away from hardcore posturing. All roads lead back to
ATCQ and the beats, rhymes and life of one man: Q-Tip. And
now the time is ripe for The Renaissance, the Abstract
MC’s first solo album in nine years.

Back when rap production was all about James Brown samples
and dense, agitated sonic collages, Q-Tip was digging
deeper into the record crates for snatches of stand-up
bass and obscure jazz. The influence of that first sonic
renaissance is still being heard. “I see the Tribe legacy
as one of the strongest in modern music,” Q-Tip admits.
“From us came so many artists, like Common, Mos Def, Talib
Kweli, the Fugees and Kanye West. I feel very honored to
have been able to contribute in such a way that, 20 years
later, it still is a reference point.” Produced primarily
by Q-Tip with plenty of live instrumentation and a love
fixation, The Renaissance is a stark portrait of the
artist as an elder statesman. One listen to the frenetic
drumming and strutting live bassline of a track like
“ManWomanBoogie” reveals that Q-Tip is on a mission to
create original music as timeless as the tracks he used to
sample once upon a time. It’s also obvious that the title
of his latest album is no accident. “The Renaissance is
significant because for some time now people have
questioned the integrity of hip-hop,” he reveals. “I feel
like the time is ideal for something that has a
revisionist spirit to it.” Taking the same type of
nonconformist risks as Stevie Wonder, John Lennon and the
mavericks of other music genres, Q-Tip has always gone
left when it comes to his position in hip-hop culture.
People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, the
1990 debut of A Tribe Called Quest, introduced Q-Tip’s
iconoclast stance. The 20-year-old emceed about
vegetarianism, French expatriates and domestic violence at
a time when (then as now) other more standard rappers’
topics were marching lockstep in comparison. Yet he always
made absolutely sure to charm the Bonita Applebums and
practice the art of moving butts. The Renaissance goes to
show that the more things change, the more they stay the
same. On “Life Is Better,” singer Norah Jones helps Q-Tip
give a unique spin on the hip-hop love song: a love of
hip-hop itself, that is. “The state of hip-hop is in
conception now,” he says, discussing the regeneration and
renaissance of the culture. “Something else is happening
to it and there’s a new approach, a rebirth that’s going
on. One of the many cool things about the digital world is
that it has grown the appetite for good music. Now people
can find an obscure Beatles song or an EPMD remix online,
so everyone is becoming more hip.” Q-Tip’s love of hip-hop
only rivals his love for the opposite sex, an adoration
that’s clear and evident on tracks like “Believe”
featuring D’Angelo, or The Renaissance’s first single,
“Gettin’ Up”: “I like to watch everybody gravitate towards
you/Your magnetic presences make them come through/The
same way you got them, you got me too.” Love talk is all
around The Renaissance, but Q-Tip remains as
characteristically diverse as ever. “Fight/Love” with
Raphael Saadiq, for example, alludes to the ever-present
realities of the Iraq War. The sole track handled by a
producer other than Q-Tip himself is “Move,” a
hyper-kinetic pastiche of diced-up Jackson 5’s “Dancing
Machine” courtesy of the late, great J. Dilla. “A Tribe
Called Quest is no more,” says Q-Tip, putting a cap on
rumors sparked by their recent reunion shows on the recent
Rock the Bells Tour. Yet hardcore fans will still recall
J. Dilla’s participation in The Ummah, the production team
(also including Q-Tip and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad) that
handled full chores on the final two ATCQ albums. “Move”
comes closest to reviving the head-nodding kick of A Tribe
Called Quest, a fitting testament to the funky skills of
James “J. Dilla” Yancey. Q-Tip is in his own extremely
capable hands for the remainder of The Renaissance. Long
known as a grand talent behind recording-studio mixing
boards, Q-Tip has blessed a number of diverse artists with
beats throughout his 20-year career: Nas, Mariah Carey,
Mobb Deep, Whitney Houston. Since his start on the Jungle
Brothers’ 1988 “Black Is Black,” music fans have waited on
solo Q-Tip in one form or another. His 1999 Amplified
debut album–produced largely by J. Dilla and featuring
the career-defining hip-pop hits “Vivrant Thing” and
“Breathe and Stop”–still left many wondering how Q-Tip
would sound without commercial constraints. His nine-year
time delay (Kamaal the Abstract was recorded but went
unreleased in the interim) may bring to mind other
missing-in-action masters of the hip-hop craft, but Q-Tip
insists it’s all good. “There hasn’t been a delay,” he
says, “and I think I can speak for myself, Lauryn Hill,
Erykah Badu and D’Angelo when I say that we make music
when the spirit is with us. We are a lot who are very
observant as well as introspective. We paint intense,
colorful pictures, so it takes time.” Some of that time
has been spent chasing the acting jones Q-Tip established
locking lips with Janet Jackson in director John
Singleton’s 1993 Poetic Justice. In films like
Disappearing Acts (2000), Prison Song (2001) and Spike
Lee’s She Hate Me (2004), Q-Tip expresses another side of
his renaissance-man persona, holding his own against
actors like Sanaa Lathan and Anthony Mackie. “When I
recorded my first album, I was 19,” Q-Tip says. “So I was
very much in the moment and did not think about my career
past the following year. I knew I loved what I did and had
big fun, but I never imagined this.” The Renaissance marks
the return of one of the most recognizable voices and
individualist figures in all of hip-hop. At this moment
for change in the hip-hop nation and the nation at large,
The Renaissance could not have come at a more appropriate
moment. Leave it to Q-Tip to be right on time.

The album mixes soul beats, piano, guitars, and Q-Tip’s
usual thoughtprovoking lyricism, which takes you on a trip
from relationships and summer songs to social issues of
late, and has a kind of ’90s feel to it. “The Renaissance”
features Raphael Saadiq, Norah Jones, D’Angelo and Amanda
Diva.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 at 12:03 pm and is filed under 2008 Releases.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.