You think you know a guy, and then he goes and puts out an album like "Amplified." Q-Tip's 1999 solo debut, released on the heels of A Tribe Called Quest's breakup, had the MC ready to dumb things down to marketplace levels. It wasn't as bad as that, not all of it, anyway, but "Amplified" lacked the wit, the versatility and the good vibes of the Tribe.
Tip has spent most of this decade being bounced among labels and recording albums that didn't get released. And that only increased expectations for his official sophomore solo effort.
"The Renaissance" rewards those expectations many times over.
"The Renaissance" is good. Very good. Maybe not quite "Low-End Theory" good but pretty close.
In both its beats and rhymes, the album brings back that swinging, jazzy flow that made Tribe the preferred tonic for listeners suffering gangsta OD in the 1990s.
And flow it does. Tracks ease into each other so smoothly the album feels like a single, unified work, even though each cut is strong enough to stand on its own.
Tip sounds just as effortless, employing metaphors from sports ("Won't Trade") to war ("We Fight/We Love") with an ease that would leave most MCs flat-footed.
The cuts are constructed from programs and live musicians, including contributions from jazz guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and singer Norah Jones, but the result is seamless.
What buoys the album is Tip's optimism and hopefulness, crystallized on the final two tracks, "Believe" and "Shaka." Presidential inauguration planners are urged to take note.
Download this: "Shaka"
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