Hip-Hop History

Q-Tip has always existed outside of the traditional sonic tropes of hip-hop. Sauntering around in a button-down t-shirt and a flat-capped fedora, his jazz-induced persona surmounted the hip-hop status quo during A Tribe Called Quest’s initial rise. That sort of oddball appearance has pierced through the succeeding decades of the peak of his relevance, influencing modern-day acts such as Tyler, the Creator. In fact, Tyler credits Grammy-winning Call Me If You Get Lost as being directly affected by the career of Q-Tip. “[He] was the weird backpack ni**a that put this album out where he was like, ‘Hey y’all, don’t get it twisted. I’m f**king whoever, I’m driving whatever, I’m doing whatever,’” he said during his recent appearance on Rap Radar. “And without that album, Call Me If You Get Lost wouldn’t exist, so thank you, Q-Tip, for setting the blueprint.”

Tyler is certainly right. Q-Tip was that weird, introspective figure in hip-hop that pushed its sound beyond James Brown sampling or looping sonic collages. Instead, a young Kamaal Fareed was crate-digging for jazz records in Queens, New York. Q-Tip’s music directly reflected his childhood influences with his father collecting jazz playlists while his mother danced to the blues. Initially, that interest manifested in the form of his writing. From inscribing stories to singing at church on Sundays, he was unconsciously laying the groundwork for his influential career.

A Tribe Called Quest Shifted Conventional Hip-Hop

Similar to many other Big Apple MCs, his concrete interest in hip-hop began at electric block parties. Jumping around to Grandmaster Flash joints, it would be another decade until he met eventual A Tribe Called Quest members Ali Muhammad and Phife Dawg. Existing on a foundation of taking non-conformist risks, the trio began their embarkment with 1990’s People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Q-Tip was rapping about veganism, domestic violence, and imaginary French conquests amid unheard-of jazz chord progressions. Nothing about the art was traditional, yet the eclectic trio quickly moved to the top of the rap game. The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders were even more successful.

Hip-hop needed a new sound; it just didn’t know it until Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest arrived. The trio’s iconic three-album run didn’t just deliver a new sound to the ever-evolving genre. It proved that different techniques could still warrant chart-topping numbers. Their work later would morph into the soundscapes of MCs such as Common, Mos Def, The Fugees, or even modern-day acts such as Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West. Q-Tip was in the driver’s seat, acting as the primary producer. Even if he got his creative start as a writer, he’s since morphed into an MC who prefers to be behind the sticks. In fact, most of his modern-day unreleased tracks are devoid of lyrics, simply focusing on the sound.

Q-Tip Is A Mentor In Hip-Hop

After A Tribe Called Quest’s iconic three-album run, the lackluster success of their fourth project signed the death warrant of the group. While Beats, Rhymes, and Life contained their familiar electric blend of turntable jazz and introspective raps, the exuberant flair of their early works was gone. As Q-Tip clarified with SPIN, “It just became a seriousness. Whereas prior, there was a lightheartedness to Tribe.” A combination of inflated egos and Q-Tip’s further commitment as a Sunni Muslim altered the calm energy of the group. In essence, it was time for Q-Tip to pursue a solo career.

After the inevitable slowdown of A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip’s solo career just as much entailed producing for others as it did curate his own sound. Most notably, he executive-produced Mobb Deep’s The Infamous. As Mobb rapper Prodigy put it with Complex back in 2011, “Most of the songs on there—but not all of them—had his input. Like, ‘Yo, I think y’all should do this to this, add a little snare here, or a delay there.’ Little things like that. It just came natural.” Q-Tip also opened doors into the music industry for Prodigy and Havoc, introducing the duo to members of Def Jam Records. By the mid-1990s, he had settled into his role as a stoic mentor in the hip-hop space.

Q-Tip Had A Highly Successful Solo Career

That mentor role would eventually morph into Q-Tip becoming the artistic director of hip-hop culture at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Sitting down with NPR, he stated, “For so long, the creators and practitioners of [hip hop] were looked down upon as degenerates and provocateurs. To be able to have the Kennedy Center institutionalize the platform helps people understand what Black complexity is.” In many ways, Q-Tip personifies Black complexity, proving that uniqueness can still succeed in hip-hop.

His solo career wouldn’t go on to be as consistent as the ATCQ days, but he reached the top of the charts. Amplified and The Renaissance did modest numbers, likely spurned by the nine years between their respective releases. Yet, their singles like “Vivrant Thing” and “Breathe & Stop” have become classics. Additionally, Tip’s collaborations with artists like Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, and Janet Jackson would further propel him into legendary hip-hop history.

However, his solo efforts’ tight refining of classic boom-bap with experimentation warranted critical acclaim amongst Q-Tip loyalists. In addition, A Tribe Called Quest returned for a last hurrah in the form of We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service. Q-Tip is timeless, a permanent stamp in hip-hop with a sound just as important today as it was during the early ’90s. From pioneering the entrance of boom-bap jazz into the hip-hop world to his work as a mentor and executive producer, Q-Tip deserves his flowers.

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