Renaissance Man

Long time no post. What's up with that? Oh that's right, I've been working. Slave to the man, that's me. I'm on my 4th cup of coffee and it's been a rough week but luckily I have the smooth sounds of one Kamaal Ibn John Fareed to help me get by.

Kamaal, or Q-Tip as the kids call him, came to fame as a part of the best, in my opinion, hip hop/rap/whatever group of all time, A Tribe Called Quest. That may not be the best praise in the world since I consider most rap to be garbage.

Fifty Cents? Garbage and borderline retarded.

Tea Pane? Pile of crap and I couldn't name a song he "sings".

Wayne Jr.? Who the hell is that?

Quite honestly I can't really think of any other rappers and I have no idea who's even current right now. I could care less. At one point I did go through a rap phase where I was into DMX, Ja Rule and maybe a couple others I'm forgetting. DMX I can still listen to now and then because at one point he got to co-star with the one and only Steven Seagal, but Ja Rule has since been exposed as a sucka MC.

But all through late high school and college it all I had one cd that has always been part of my collection, The Low End Theory. Since then I've since latched on to Midnight Marauders
but no matter what Tribe has always seemed kind of special and able to cross the genre.

Which brings me to Q-Tip. For shits and giggles I picked up a solo album he put out last year, The Renaissance. I can't even really explain it all. There's just something so chill about the whole thing, and Tribe in general, that makes it really easy to listen to. It's the type of disk you can throw in and before you know it you're head's bobbing and you've got a smile on your face. Want to get some things done at the office and mellow out after the boss has been riding your back all day? Listen to this album. Want to keep the buzz alive after last call? Crap open a nice cold PBR (can, if possible) and let Q-Tip tell you what's up. Want to rock out a set of squats at the gym? Um... don't listen to this album. Instead you might want to listen to some Slipknot and then punch a girl in the face.

Can I just say that at some point I hope to someday have a job reviewing albums at Rolling Stone? Looking back I see they gave Midnight Marauders 2 stars. Two fricken stars!!! This is the same magazine that heralded Franz Ferdinand as the next coming of Led Zeppelin and voted Jack White as one of the best guitarists of all time! Seriously people?