Producer, beat creator, and hip-hop icon Q-Tip is also known as Kamaal Fareed and Kamaal the Abstract. His real name: Jonathan Davis. As a member of '90s hip-hop trio A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip broke barriers and set standards that hip-hop has only occasionally matched and never surpassed.
The jazz-infused arrangements and supple grooves of Tribe albums such as The Low End Theory (Jive, 1991); Midnight Marauders (Jive, 1993); and Beats, Rhymes and Life (Jive, 1996) established hip-hop's golden era. Along with P.M. Dawn, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Common Sense (now known as just Common), The Pharcyde and Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest created melodic and sinewy hip-hop rife with sampling experimentation and socially engaged rapping.
When Tribe disbanded in 1998 — after releasing The Love Movement (Jive) that year — most figured that the trio's de facto leader would continue his jazz ways. Instead, Q-Tip rolled out the glammy Amplified (Arista, 1999), a stylish smash that was all about capturing the hip-hop mainstream with the party sensibilities of “Vivrant Thing” and “Breathe and Stop.”
It seemed that Q-Tip had sold out and cashed in, but behind the scenes, he was studying piano and exploring operatic bel canto vocal technique with a private coach. Q-Tip also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Nas and Mobb Deep. This hurried activity bore fruit in the critically hailed but commercially unreleased album Kamaal the Abstract, a record laced with jazz-funk threads and renegade sampling. Arista's decision to closet the recording stings Q-Tip to this day, and he compares the album to another acclaimed Arista act.
“Hip-hop is about the sound of the drums and the way they permeate the track,” Q-Tip says. “The drums are the personality of the song. I wanted to keep that sound intact but really have a drummer put his own feel to it. You can do a damn good job programming, but nothing feels better than a cat with some vibe and personality sitting down and playing it.