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Well, here we are again, org--onauts, and it's been pretty confusing. This past July 4th saw the debut of a new Qtip track called 'Work It Out', which is supposed to herald (once again) the coming of a new Q-tip album --- 'scheduled' to drop this fall.

I hope it's coming, though I'm sure a lot of fans aren't believing this for a minute-- we've heard this too many times before. It's the usual sad story of innovation vs. the Music Biz...



Back in 2002, Qtip was stretching toward something new. He was set to release Kamaal The Abstract, an ambitious mix of Jazz/Funk/ Rock and Hip Hop, blending live musicians with guerilla sampling...He wanted to use the feel and improvisation of a live band as the basis, rather than simply rhyming over samples of records. In preparation, Q-tip spent time studying Piano (with the late Weldon Irvine) and voice, and he holed up in his New Jersey home studio with musicians like adventurous Jazz guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Gary Thomas, Keyboardist James Hurt, Bassist Derek Hodge, and drummer Mark Cohlbenberg. It was a far cry from his previous outing, the commercial Amplified, but the new album could arguably be seen a logical extension of the jazzy soundscapes of Tribe Called Quest.



Advance copies were sent out, and Kamaal was critically hailed, but Arista apparently thought it was a little too adventurous for their target audiences. They ended up shelving the album. Oddly enough, a few years later Arista released the wide-ranging Outkast album, 'Speakerboxx/ The Love Below', which was both a critical and commercial success and was touted as 'something new and exciting for Hip Hop'...it's often been said that Andre3000 was influenced by the Kamaal album. Common's eclectic Electric Circus was also released, apparently without much objection from his label....

“I am really disappointed that 'Kamaal' wasn't released," Q-Tip said in an interview with Remix magazine. "LA Reid said they didn't know what to do with it; then, three years later, they release Outkast. What Outkast is doing now, those are the kinds of sounds that are on Kamaal the Abstract. Actually, Kamaal is a little more out....."

Although Kamaal the Abstract was officially shelved, copies of the original promos soon began to circulate, (ala The Black Album), and it began to attain the status of an underground classic. In the meantime, Qtip left Arista and was soon signed to the Dreamworks label, where he began working on a new album, tentatively titled "Open".



This new album followed the blueprint of Kamaal but more streamlined, combining the Jam-band feel of his live band with Hip-Hop aesthetics, and once again Rock, Funk and Jazz were bridged into the mix. In addition, guest artists like D'angelo, Andre 3000, Common, Pharoahe Monch, Busta Rhymes and the late Jaydee (Dilla) were also on board to contribute to various tracks on the album.

“I wanted to make people pay attention now, for better or worse, creating something that makes you say, ‘Wow, that is weird,’ Q-Tip remarked. "This is a totally new approach for me. I want to become a really good songwriter eventually, a great writer. The Tribe stuff was great, and I want to rediscover that again...."

Unfortunately, his luck wasn't much better at the new label. Dreamworks was bought and put under Universal/ Motown, and Q-tip's stuff got put on the shelf once again, then taken off, then shelved... and once again, tracks began to circulate underground, with an album alternately titled "Open" or "LIve At The Renaissance".. at this point , it's hard to tell which project is which...it seems likely that some pieces from the Open project were set to be included with new tracks on the "Live At The Renaissance" project...

Back to 2007, and now the official word is that the new album, with the shortened title, "The Renaissance" is arriving in October...That'd be nice, but I ain't holding my breath, !

Meanwhile, Qtip has a petition on his myspace page to get Arista to release 'Kamaal The Abstract'....

It's a shame that music like this has such a hard time getting out...I guess the fact that it doesn't pander or appeal to the lowest common denominator keeps excluding it from getting the Green Light--Sadly, if he had rhymed about Money, Guns, Bitches and Ho's, his albums would've been put out ages ago.....

Paligap, aka








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[Edited 7/18/07 14:00pm]

paligap said:

Thanx for posting this article. Q-tip and tribe are among the few rappers i listen to. And q-tip as a solo artist is just evolving unlike the crappy ass rappers out on the market today. It is unfortunate that the youth today don't appreciate rappers that try to help hip hop evolve into an art form instead of a vehicle for degradation and ignorance.

Q-Tip has some serious bad luck. I've heard Kamaal thanks to a fellow orger and thought it was great. It really does deserve to be released--maybe as a bonus disc on a deluxe edition of his latest or something.

Why can't this dude get a break? And yet crap that I won't bother to metion gets continuous push and rotation.

I really do believe that this is why D' Angelo has also not released shit. When something is "too outthere" it doesn't get record label love. Some of my favorite songs I have of several artist are the outtakes that didn't make the records!

I have all 3 albums and they are awesome. Hats off to Q-Tip for not giving up and not selling out.
Fingers crossed, hope he gets the paper that the quality of his work truly deserves.

they really need to give this man a break. kamaal is an ace album and
it's criminal that arista doesn't release it. just a bloody shame

i haven't heard any of the "open/renaissance" tracks yet but i'm sure
that if they're half as good as the kamaal stuff i'll be drooling for
a quick release date.

"Kamaal the Abstract" wasn't a perfect album, but it was interesting and different... which is probably why the record company didn't want to release it.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

Then why release The Love Below?

I've only listened to Kamal in bad bitrate rip!

sextonseven said:

I think the difference is that OutKast had a string of very commercially successful albums before S-boxx/TLB. ATCQ and Q-Tip solo had notable success, but not quite on OutKast's level.

I keep hearing about "Kamaal" and want to know how I can cop it? I wanna hear that shit. And yeah, record comapnies start acting like little bitches, especially Arista. They also shelved the critically-acclaimed "Soul Parade" by Cherokee. It had Andre 3000, Floetry, Anthony Hamilton, Rahsaan Patterson, Jill Scott, Musiq, and Bilal on it and they said they didn't know what to do with it. Fucking morons. It's called RELEASE IT!

MuthaFunka said:

Exactly. This joint has been long overdue. Waiting for labels to release upcomming joints is like waiting for paint to dry all because of red tape. Ahh, the unfortuante nature of the biz.

IstenSzek said:

Have I Told U Lately That I U? I read an amazing Tricky career break-down today and now this.

And Paligap; thanks for the post. Kamaal is a great album. Bloody shame.

HamsterHuey said:

let me just slip into Natisse modus for a minute and say:

Thanks 4 the info, paligap.

Kamaal is brillant. Definitely one of the great should've-been albums of all time.

paligap said:

Ain't that the truth.

Great writing


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

I don't understand why he doesn't go indy!! Kool Keith gets almost unlimited releases from threshold and his own label,el-p and mf doomget releases,madlib gets all his releases from Stones Throw and his stuff his all over the place,as well. The same goes or went for J-Dilla.Tip should be able to get everything released.He has a brand name and cool cats and kitties love his stuff. There is a new yesterdays new quintet cd out like,now!!It doesn't make sense.His non-commercial rap albums will never get love on a major save for Blue Note. He should go indie.

Can someone send me kamal in good quality?

rockwilder said:

Yeah, that would seem to be the best thing. I'm not sure about all the legal details, but at first the word was that tip was trying to acquire the rights to release Kamaal on his own--but apparently something didn't work out, and now he's got that online petition to persuade Arista to release it.

I agree-- when you see what happened at Arista, it'd follow that the same problems would just occur again at another major...



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I've heard great stuff about Kamaal. I'm going to have to track it down...

namepeace said:

"Ms. Jackson" going to #1 in the U.S. had a lot to do with it I guess.

sextonseven said:

Yeah. They had the cache to get out of the box.

namepeace said:

Good Points...I originally thought that Tribe and the success of Amplified would've been enough for the label to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I guess not--apparently you really gotta burn up the charts before they let you loose...



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"Barely In Love" is my everything

theAudience said:

Indeed. The quote looks to familiar in fact TA.

paligap said:

ATCQ was and IS one of the most beloved hip-hop groups of all time. They were part of hip-hop's creative heights. But their albums on the whole never sold well, despite their large following. Unlike OutKast, who were the "next wave" of hip-hop innovators that came into their prime at the right time, ATCQ broke up right as they were becoming known to a larger audience. This is probably why "Vivrant Thing" did so well after Tribe's last album was released.

namepeace said:

Yeah, probably....


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karmatornado said:

Ain't that Always the way!! From Hendrix to Prince, to Lewis Taylor, to Miles, there's always some outtake cutting room floor stuff that makes you go "Whoah!!--Now That's some Other Shit! Why isn't this out?"



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[Edited 7/18/07 18:19pm]