Q-Tip
'The Renaissance'
Long-silent, iconic rhymesmith spreads conscious disco fever.
Bookending his second solo album with ruminations about hope, the Tribe Called Quest leader lays his eloquent flow over liquid arrangements shimmering with rhythmic finesse. Up-tempo and uplifting, this largely self-produced record blurs distinctions between accessibility and avant-gardism: The most booty-shaking cut, "ManWomanBoogie," swings on a hissing, syncopated sample from krautrockers Can. But even as he pursues a higher plane via fathoms-deep grooves, Q-Tip packs abstract sass, boasting that he's "the hammerhead," while a lesser MC is a listless "manatee."
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