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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