Q-Tip

Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (born Jonathan William Davis, April 10, 1970), better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American rapper, record producer, singer, and DJ. Nicknamed the Abstract, he is noted for his innovative jazz-influenced style of hip hop production and his philosophical, esoteric and introspective lyrical themes. He embarked on his music career in the late 1980s, as an MC and main producer of the influential alternative hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. In the mid-1990s, he co-founded the production team The Ummah, followed by the release of his gold-certified solo debut Amplified in 1999. In the following decade, he released the Grammy Award-nominated album The Renaissance (2008) and the experimental album Kamaal the Abstract (2009).

As an actor, Q-Tip has appeared in various films such as Poetic Justice, She Hate Me, and Prison Song, the latter of which he co-wrote and played the lead role. As a DJ, he has hosted the Apple Music 1 radio show Abstract Radio since 2015. In 2016, Q-Tip was named the artistic director for hip hop culture at the Kennedy Center, and in 2018, he became the instructor of a jazz and hip hop course at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.

Q-Tip is one of the most acclaimed figures in hip hop. AllMusic states that he “led a jazz-based hip-hop revolution during the ‘90s”, calling him “the best rapper/producer in hip-hop history”. Several publications have ranked him as one the greatest rappers and hip hop producers of all time, with The Source ranking him the 20th greatest rap lyricist, and Billboard ranking him the sixth greatest hip hop producer.

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