Q-Tip is cooler than you. He's way cooler than me. But this goes without saying when considering the slick emcee whose main act, A Tribe Called Quest, is arguably the most respected hip-hop group of the last decade.
Before I listened to Q-Tip's new Arista release, "Amplified," I had already heard a lot about it -- "Q-Tip sells out his Tribe." "Q-Tip goes Gangsta." "Q-Tip falls flat."
But as the (also very cool) Dude says in "The Big Lebowski," "That's just like, your opinion, man." I say "Amplified," the debut solo release from the savvy Tribe rapper, flows like only Q-Tip can. The album is both a reflection of Q-Tip's past and, as he states on the opening track, "Wait Up," a progressive look into the "brand new age/trying to find a new way."
Working off Tribe's signature laid-back beats, much of "Amplified" stays true to Q-Tip's roots. The beats on "Higher" are real down, layering acoustic bass, live drums and Thelonious Monk-style piano samples.
Lyrically, he drops all the typical knowledge--"smokin' Ls" at "the crib" listening to "Marvin Gaye" with "dime chicks" and "Queens cats." Musically, his lines remain infallible, dancing on, behind and beyond the beat. Always the rapper with the sensitive side, Q-Tip gets his swerve on with "Vibrant Thing" and "Breath and Stop."
And he's still goofy, rhyming "foolish" with "ghoulish", and joking, "You sick drinkin' NyQuil/well I'll better your ass." Make no mistake, "Amplified" showcases the Q-Tip we've come to love.
But as much as Q-Tip keeps to his time-tested "low-down swing," he's not afraid to take new approaches. Throughout the album, he tastefully incorporates en vogue studio technology without plasticizing his sound. The CD opens with an incessant digital tick, out of which the familiar jazz sampling erupts.
Much of the album carries on in this manner -- digital experimentation gives way to Q-Tip's refined East Coast groove. In the closing seconds of the highly synthesized "Moving With U," the digital arrangement behind Q-Tip's verses suddenly speeds up out of control before collapsing into the live drum kit intro to "Let's Ride," a trick reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine."
There are, however, places where Q-Tip trips up. As a whole, the album seems somewhat self-indulgent, missing much of the lyrical texture and rapper interplay so important to Tribe's sound.
At times, Q-Tip falls victim to some played-out hip-hop cliches. In "Breath and Stop," which does have a cool, Lauren Hill-style guitar track, Q-Tip falls back onto that "punch and stop" beat used by Foxy Brown and other "phony rappers," to recall a term from Tribe's '96 release, "Beats, Rhymes and Life." And his venture into rap-rock, "End of Time," featuring Korn -- sorry Q-Tip, not feeling it.
Without question, the paramount achievement of the album is "All In." In this, Q-Tip's coolness manifests itself with eminent audacity; he raps the song with a cheeseburger in his mouth. Through a quarter-pound of dead cow, he raps "we're gonna put this improvised s--- up/it hurts like a sit-up." Who else could pull that off?
