Q-Tip is one of the most celebrated artists in hip-hop. Best known as the longtime front man for A Tribe Called Quest and renowned for his own eclectic and ever-changing solo career, born Jonathan Davis and now known as Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, has put together one of the most enviable resumes in urban music over the course of an almost 25-year career.
ATCQ’s effortless jazz-rap fusions were innovative to say the least, providing a template for not only other bohemian-esque hip-hop acts that emerged throughout the 1990s, but also for the burgeoning neo-soul movement. At the helm of that musical vision was Q-Tip. As a solo artist, he’s moved from Top 40 pop hits like Vivrant Thing to the more jazz-inflected sounds of his Kamaal The Abstract album to mature, grown-man hip-hop of 2008s The Renaissance.
As a producer, he’s worked with everyone from Mobb Deep to Whitney Houston. His sound is as recognizable as many of his more high-profile peers.
Q-Tip, like fellow hip-hop iconoclasts Andre 3000 and Kanye West, occupies a special place in the genre’s ongoing history. With so many of his artistic and commercial successes, we decided to celebrate his 43rd birthday by taking a look at some of his lesser-acknowledged production work.
Here are 10 of the rapper/producer’s more underrated musical moments…
