Q-Tip — Kamaal The Abstract

Kamaal The Abstract was supposed to be the 2001 follow up to Q-Tip's booty-shaking debut, Amplified. But his record label got cold feet after hearing the supposedly "experimental" album and shelved it — but not before sending out press copies that eventually found their way onto the Internet.

Now it's been given a proper release, and Kamaal proves to be neither the experimental oddity the suits feared nor the culmination of Tip's attempts to fuse jazz and hip-hop. Instead, the album offers a mixed bag of tracks that while certainly carry more mainstream appeal today than they would've eight years ago, are a definite departure from what the one-time A Tribe Called Quest MC was known for.

Opener "Feelin'" and "Heels" both bop with an old-school vibe like much of last year's comeback, The Renaissance. But in between straight hip-hop and jazzy grooves, Tip seems to be giving nods to the then-still flourishing neo-soul movement with tracks like "Blue Girl."

Although the album may not light up the charts the way his record label had hoped, Kamaal The Abstract was a necessary step for Q-Tip towards establishing himself as a creative, not lucre-driven artist.

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