A Tribe Called Quest started a movement when they first popped up along with acts such as De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and Black Sheep. The movement was channeled out in the form of innovative and funky music. Mixing jazz and funk into the break-beats of Hip Hop with lyrics about self-awareness, having fun and uplifting thoughts, all brought to whoever chooses to listen to their records. Q-Tip was the front man of A Tribe Called Quest and with a charisma full of joy and an ability to always make you smile with his distinctive flow and high pitched voice he provided each track with a honest soul alongside Phife Dawg, and I think that’s why Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest have been loved for so long by so many.

After being absent for a good 9 years Q-Tip brought a renaissance along when he released his long time awaited second solo release. A renaissance back to the funky and jazzy sounds of New York’s mid-90’s Hip Hop scene. Danceable rhymes told with a cool-as-hell flow is what sprinkles this album throughout. Jumping off with “Johnny Is Dead” with pulsating funk bass lines it never stops to bring you that feel-good vibe in your body, and if anything it strives to have you “Getting Up” and starting to “Move.” Q-Tip takes production credits for nearly the entire album, and what the album’s overall sound feels like is an artist very comfortable in his own music, and that’s when music is taken to another level; “The Renaissance” is on another level, another level of comfort, another level of awareness and just another level of funk we haven’t heard in years. Another thing about Q-Tip is that he has always mingled with the crème de la crème of the music business, and this disc is no exception. He brought out the most talented Neo-Soul and R&B artists to vibe along with him on the pulsating beats that are sprinkled all over, Raphael Saadiq joins in on the beautiful “We Fight/We Love” D’Angelo lays down his soothing voice over “Believe” and Norah Jones brings everything down to earth on “Life is Better” where Q-Tip spits the most incredible and impressive verse of ’08, namedropping basically every important figure in Hip Hop from Afrika Bambaataa to Lil’ Wayne. The real gem on this album however is the J Dilla produced “Move” it never ceases to amaze to me just how talented Dilla was, time after time he pops up even years after his death and delivers beats as beautiful as anything.

Q-Tip has delivered an outstanding piece of work, and 20 years into his veteran-career he still stays relevant and grabs your attention with his jazzy, neck breaking beats and with words that make you want to move, dance, sing, laugh, love and just celebrate life. But what really drives this album, what really makes it crawl under your skin, is the undeniable funkiness of it. Just pure funky, feel-good music and shared experiences of life handed to you in the sharpest rhyme schemes.

by Oskar