Something (Sort Of) Different: Q-Tip - Kamaal the Abstract (September 15, 2009)

A Tribe Called Quest’s The Love Movement dropped on September 29, 1998 (one of the greatest days in the history of hip hop, but that’s a story for another day). Shortly afterward, the group effectively disbanded, leaving the various members to explore solo careers. The late Phife Dawg released his only solo project to date, Ventilation: Da LP, in 2000, while Ali Shaheed Muhammed helped form the supergroup Lucy Pearl that same year. While it seemed like those two took a breather before exploring their options, however, producer-slash-rapper Kamaal “Q-Tip” Fareed took the fuck off, dropping his solo debut, Amplified, a mere year after his group called it quits. (They later reformed for one final album, 2016’s We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, but that isn’t the point of today’s post.)

Amplified was met with both critical acclaim and commercial success, earning Q-Tip and his label, Arista Records, a gold plaque. The high sales numbers could be attributed to the direction he had taken while recording the album: Q-Tip and his primary co-conspirator behind the boards, the late J. Dilla, purposefully drove toward specific vibes, as opposed to utilizing the jazzy influences and social commentary Tribe was known for. Thus, Amplified ended up with several tracks that played well at the club. For his follow-up effort, Q-Tip wanted to go back into his bag and pull out an entirely different, fresher sound: instead of merely sampling the lesser-known jazz musicians of the day (which is a trend he is credited with starting within our chosen genre, at least if you ask any A-list producer), Kamaal Fareed wanted to flat-out record a jazz album. He was serious about this undertaking, as well, taking out ads in local newspapers (you see, Craigslist wasn’t a thing back in 2000-2001) looking for professionals to help him convert his thoughts into musical notes. The result of his efforts, Kamaal the Abstract, was completed in 2002, with promotional singles having been sent to radio the year prior.

Arista Records, in turn, hated what they heard, and immediately shelved the project.

Kamaal the Abstract was not a marketable product, the label argued. It was considered to be too different from what made Amplified so accessible (read: there were no potential radio singles on it). It even sounded too far off the path A Tribe Called Quest had taken, as far as they were concerned: there just wouldn’t be any sort of audience for a hip hop-influenced jazz-pop album. Q-Tip had believed that his past successes as both a solo artist and with his former group had earned him the cache necessary to record something that was for him, not unlike a film director who takes studio jobs to help pay the bills but works independent of the system when they deem a story as too important for them not to tell. This experience, unfortunately, led to a string of Q-Tip follow-up albums that were also considered to be not commercial enough to move units, at least until his official sophomore effort, The Renaissance, finally dropped in 2008, nine fucking years and at least two different attempts later. (That history is why I have very little faith in Q-Tip getting us his next project, The Last Zulu, anytime soon.)

Kamaal the Abstract was scheduled to be released in 2002, which, if older heads reading this site will remember, was quite the time for bootleggers. The project leaked in its entirety, compelling Tribe fans to illegally download it to form their own opinions on Q-Tip’s new sound. The criticisms came out in full force: it wasn’t received well, as it wasn’t technically a rap album, which was kind of the point. In the meantime, Q-Tip fought long and hard to extricate himself from the label situation (he eventually ended up at Universal Motown) and to purchase the masters of Kamaal the Abstract so that he could finally do something with it. An agreement was reached with Battery Records, and in 2009 a slightly-updated version of the album finally hit store shelves, officially making Kamaal the Abstract Q-Tip’s third solo album.

So was it worth all of the trouble?

1. FEELIN

The very first song on Kamaal the Abstract also acted as a promotional single way back in 2001, before all of the false starts and label drama. It’s rather easy to see why Arista may have been hesitant about the project after listening to “Feelin”, though: it includes only a single verse from Q-Tip (which touches on racial profiling, which is still, sadly, a problem even now – there is no reason this should still be a thing in fucking 2018, you two), but veers quickly into guitar and organ work for the majority of its four-minute-plus run time. Not exactly what they thought they would get after “Vivrant Thing”, I’m certain. But if you listen to it with brand new ears today, you realize our host was simply ahead of his time: the overall vibe of “Feelin” could have slid easily onto Tribe’s We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service. The fact that it only features a single verse and some light sung vocals from our host make it not one of my personal favorites, but it’s still pretty good, and it functions as the perfect way to inform listeners of exactly what it is they’re getting into.

2. DO YOU DIG U? (FEAT. GARY THOMAS & KURT ROSENWINKEL)

Our host goes all-in during “Do You Dig U?”, a seven-minute-plus excursion (I see what I did there) into jazzy meandering that also features his sparse vocals. Actually, “meandering” may be too kind a word for it: “indulgent” is the more accurate term, as “Do You Dig U?” features a flute solo from guest Gary Thomas that is just really fucking long, you guys, so your probability of liking this track is wholly dependent on your tolerance for hearing someone play the flute for what feels like days at a time. I felt the music underneath was pleasant enough, but ultimately this one tried my patience, folks: I’ll listen to it if it plays in the background at a coffee shop of a hipster bar, but never on purpose, because I found no fun to be had here. Ah well.

3. A MILLION TIMES

Musically, “A Million Times” is decent, if a bit slight: it comes across as Q-Tip producing the exact type of music that plays from the speakers during the pre-show at an off-Broadway theatre, with okay-but -nondescript synths and guitar chords combining in ways to help pass the time, but nothing more. Lyrically, however, this song is never going to be to your liking, as the words are… well, they’re bad. Q-Tip opts for repetitive phrases that say absofuckinglutely nothing in lieu of actual verses, which is frustrating when you know what our host is capable of with the pen, so even though you know Kamaal the Abstract isn’t a traditional rap album, or even a rap album at all, and is closer to the jazz family, you still can’t help but be disappointed with “A Million Times”. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but fuck this song.

4. BLUE GIRL

“Blue Girl” is really fucking good, though, at least up to the finale, which I’ll get to in a bit. Until then, Q-Tip’s singing (with an uncredited female companion) is engaging and, at times, soulful, even though he’s trying to coax the depression from a woman using the power of the spoken word. (He is oversimplifying mental health treatment here, but it’s easy to tell what he’s trying to accomplish, so I’ll let it slide for now.) His vocals reminded me very much of his later work on the Norah Jones duet “Life Is Better” (from The Renaissance), which is far and away the superior track, but “Blue Girl” was recorded long before that song, which makes this impressive all by itself. The musical backing is jazzy but doesn’t overstay its welcome. (I caught a RZA “Untitled #12 (Free Jazz)” (from the Japanese import score of Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai) vibe at times.) And then the song fades out, as a lot of them tend to do. And then our host jumps back into the booth to shout horribly into our ears over a discordant version of the “Blue Girl” music. His line, “You got brains in your head / That’s why you got that pain in your head” is nothing earth-shattering: science has proven that intelligent people tend to be more prone to depressive thoughts, likely because we’re just much more aware of shit. It was nice to hear that in what is ostensibly a jazz-rap song, though. But if the actual “rap” part had been trimmed, “Blue Girl” could have been a great goddamn track. As it stands, there’s a permanent asterisk by its title. Sigh.

5. BARELY IN LOVE

Look, I understand the metaphor, but when the object of Q-Tip’s affection during “Barely In Love” talks about going to Mexico, I couldn’t help but hope that, this time around, he doesn’t leave his wallet behind (link). Yeah, I’m that guy. “Barely In Love” is much funkier than the jazzy influence surrounding the project would have you believe: our host’s tale of a woman who only likes the fun, passionate, “hot” part of relationships is fully realized and catchy as hell. Q-Tip doesn’t rap on here at all, and there’s no need for him to, as his vocals help him get his point across just as easily as his bars have in the past. “Barely In Love” was another promotional single for the original release of Kamaal the Abstract, and that’s because it’s fucking good.

6. HEELS

Q-Tip has recorded quite a few odes to women throughout his career: “Bonita Appelbum” is a classic, and “Electric Relaxation” (which, depending on the day you ask, is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time) certainly follows in that category. So “Heels” makes sense, theme-wise, even if its execution is flawed. Our host raps over another funky beat about his heretofore-unknown obsession with a certain type of footwear most women own, and he sounds like the horny old man he’s obviously trying to be. But the track never gels: the backing music tricks listeners into believing the vocals have merit when this truly just is a simplistic song about “Heels”. So consider yourselves warned.

7. ABSTRACTIONISMS (FEAT. KENNY GARRETT A/K/A TRUTH)

When the album itself is called Kamaal the Abstract, it makes sense that Q-Tip would feel comfortable naming a song after one of his alter-egos, The Abstract. Well, sort of. (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a track entitled “The Lone Ranger” for The Last Zulu, Kamaal.) “Abstractionsim” is a jazzy rap song in the vein of Gang Starr’s really early work, and is probably exactly what you expected to hear when you first heard about Q-Tip’s direction for Kamaal the Abstract way back in 2001: two rapped verses alongside a lengthy saxophone solo provided by guest musician Kenny Garrett. It runs for much longer than absolutely necessary, as do most jazz songs (don’t @ me), but it’s interesting enough for Tribe fans to use as a gateway into our host’s mindstate at the time. It doesn’t seem to have a proper ending, though: it just fades out arbitrarily after running for five minutes. Q-Tip has fucking nailed this meandering thing, you two.

8. CARING

Really more of an interlude than a proper track, as it doesn’t even run for two full minutes (I mean, seriously, on this project? What the hell?), but the vocals were pleasing (had Kamaal the Abstract been released on its originally announced date, critics would have undoubtedly praised Q-Tip’s singing from every single mountaintop they could find), and the message is sweet and genuine. That’s all I have. Oh wait: apparently one of the singers backing our host is Stevie Wonder’s daughter Aisha Morris, who was his inspiration for “Isn’t She Lovely?” So.

9. EVEN IF IT IS SO

Another track that sounds like it could have been a dry run for The Renaissance had the timing of both projects allowed that to even be logistically possible. Q-Tip describes the life of a young woman he’s madly in like with, who works her ass off to provide for her child and for the promise of a better life, while he himself is just “an arty music gigolo” who knows he isn’t the right person for her, but he can’t help himself. Interesting direction, but musically, Q-Top takes no chances with misinterpretation, choosing to lay the lyrics over a bed of uplifting jazz, so that you, too, will do nothing but hope that these two crazy kids get together, which completely ignores the more sinister undercurrent here, but whatever. I think I liked the title more than the song itself, but it wasn’t bad as much as it may be a bit misguided.

The following is classified as a bonus track.

10. MAKE IT WORK

Also known as “Midnight Pt. II”. That’s an outright lie, but “Make It Work” owes so much to the sound of the classic Tribe song “Midnight” that it may as well be true, right? I wouldn’t be mad at it, anyway. This bonus track finds our host straight-up spitting around guitar licks and fuzzy bass notes, and will appeal most to fans of A Tribe Called Quest and Q-Tip’s rapping cameos on other projects. There’s no real jazz influence to be found on here, which is just fuine by me: shit fucking bangs. I only wish there were a version of “Make It Work” that somehow included Phife Dawg (R.I.P.) in the mix, and yes, I realize Phife wasn’t on “Midnight” either: that doesn’t invalidate my dream, you dick. Anyway, loved this shit.

The final song I’m writing about today is another bonus track, one only available on the vinyl or iTunes editions of Kamaal the Abstract.

11. DAMN, YOU’RE COOL

Damn, why wasn’t this bonus song made more widely available? Aside from featuring the only instance of our host using the word “fuck” all evening, “Damn, You’re Cool” would have fit the regular program perfectly. Our host is charmingly dorky as a guy who is overwhelmed by the effortless charm a potential partner is exhibiting: “Damn, You’re Cool” is precisely the type of phrase people hope to one day say to their future significant other, and Q-Tip plays the role of “awkward man in cool girl’s orbit” perfectly. Now that’s how you fucking end an album!

FINAL THOUGHTS: Kamaal the Abstract is going to be a difficult sell to folks who just don’t give a shit about jazz. Ironically enough, it’s exactly the type of project that would be considered critic bait today, as our chosen genre has evolved to the point where shit like this is far more acceptable. So it could, and should, be argued that Q-Tip was simply too ahead of his time for Arista to see things his way. But that doesn’t mean Kamaal the Abstract is great, or even good: there are a lot of points on this project where the man allows the music to do whatever it wants, and unless you’re into that sort of thing, you’re going to find this album more frustrating than entertaining. Personally, I found most of the project to be interesting, but I also tend to usually trust Q-Tip’s musical instincts. That said, even I hated some of the stuff on this project. It’s easy to see why Arista declined to release Kamaal the Abstract: Q-Tip ran the risk of alienating all of his fans. It would have been too soon after the Tribe breakup for something like this to drop: he would have come across as more of a diva than what most people already believe. By inadvertently waiting nine years, Q-Tip was able to take advantage of a new musical landscape, one that was more understanding of what he was trying to do here. But none of this is answering your question: is this worth your time? Ultimately, yes it is, but I urge you to go into this one with an open mind: the highs are truly above the clouds, but the lows are pretty shitty. I’m still glad this one finally saw a proper release, though.

BUY OR BURN? Even with all that shit I was talking above, I’d recommend you pick this one up. But I’m also a huge fan of A Tribe Called Quest, so you likely saw that coming from the jump. Again, the good songs are pretty fucking great, and they overrule Q-Tip’s navel-gazing efforts on here.

BEST TRACKS: “Make It Work”; “Blue Girl” (save for the ending); “Feelin’”; “Damn, You’re Cool”; “Barely In Love”

-Max

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I’ve written extensively about Tribe’s output, and you can also follow Q-Tip’s solo career by clicking here.