Album Review: Q-Tip – Kamaal The Abstract (2009)

Album Review: Q-Tip – Kamaal The Abstract (2009)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Potholes

Never shy to propagate the significance of artistic integrity, Q-Tip has always done things his own way. From his legendary work with A Tribe Called Quest to later solo projects, it would be impossible to accuse the man’s material of bending to label pressure, and perhaps manifested in severe delays to the album’s release, Kamaal The Abstract is no exception to this.

In what is surely his most experimental venture, Q-Tip combines past influences with a deeply creative will moreso than ever before; while the sounds of A Tribe Called Quest are undoubtedly glittered with superb slices of sampled Jazz and Funk, Kamaal The Abstract sees the rapper stepping beyond the confines of Hip-Hop in order to try and create these sounds himself. There are, at times, impressive results, but the album is not without a few lacklustre and sloppy moments that make the album’s overall tightness suffer. For example, ‘Do U Dig U?’ seems undecided between being a chilled out R&B jam or a mystical Jazz epic, and the chorus from the otherwise immense ‘Barely In Love’ drags and pales in comparison to its spectacular verses and production. Tracks like ‘A Million Times’ and ‘Heels’ are generally dull and somewhat repetitive, and at just nine tracks in length, there’s little excuse for the superfluous here. However, fans will be delighted to hear vintage Q-Tip vibes combined with the airy compositions of ‘Abstractisms’ and ‘Even If It Is So’, and even the tracks that have their faults are built upon infectious bass lines and heavenly chords.

Kamaal The Abstract won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and there are certainly ideas that fall short in their execution, but the project is undoubtedly representative of Q-Tip’s talent and creativity, and proves to be more than deserving of its eventual label release.