Q-Tip the Deleted

*Yes, there used to be a pretty sweet post about Q-Tip in this space. His label didn't want you to know about or hear anything from the record without purchasing it for yourself. Sad, really.

here's what it said...

If you're cool, you know A Tribe Called Quest was the bees knees back in the day. But I won't blame you if you didn't know Tribe's frontman Q-Tip was set to drop a bomb on hip-hop the same day America elected its first black president. Q has been out of the public eye for almost 10 years, though he re-united Tribe in '06, but The Renaissance is notice served on a genre that loses more luster every year removed from the golden days of old-school. With Kanye pursuing his auto-tune dreams, Kamaal the Abstract (a.k.a. Q-Tip) is dropping piano hooks like they are steaming hot, laying beats like asphalt, and bringing the old-school back to the new-school. Class is now in session. There will be a test.

Listen:
Gettin' Up*
Johnny is Dead*
[from The Renaissance|buy]
*links removed at label's request