BEATS, RHYMES AND LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

I'm a huge fan of A Tribe Called Quest, and I was looking forward to seeing Beats Rhymes & Life for a long time... while kind of being skeptical over whether it would come out at all. It was no secret that there were serious issues between director Michael Rapaport (an actor, he's in one of my favorite films, Copland) and the band, particularly Q-Tip. Which is a real shame: Rapaport was clearly doing this for love, not money, it's too bad things got so messsy.

I saw an early trailer on YouTube - it was actually called "Beats, Rhymes and Fights."  I can see where Tip took issue with that. Yes, there were lots of personal issues between Tip and Phife Dawg.  Lots.  But to take a group like Tribe - visionaries who never sold out, never dumbed down, sold lots of records and made a big impact on music - and reduce them to interpersonal issues does a bit of a disservice.  To his credit, Rapaport got lots of testimonials from other artists like Questlove, Common, The Beastie Boys and Pharrell Williams, as well as other members of the Native Tongues, including De La Soul and The  Jungle Brothers (but no Queen Latifah!). Personally, I would have liked to hear more details about how Tribe influenced all of these groups, and maybe hear from more of the band's peers who weren't part of the Native Tongues (for instance, I would have been interested to hear Ice Cube's take on them).

I also would have loved to hear more about the making of the early albums.  They were so different, it's hard to explain how weird and interesting they sounded in the context of the late '80s or early '90s.  Call me old, but that was a great era of hip-hop which I definitely miss.

As you can see in the film, Q-Tip is definitely and absolutely the group's leader.  Is he a control freak?  Maybe. But he is also super concerned with quality control, and if he doesn't take responsibility for that, who would? Also, no one else in the band really steps up the way he does.

I was curious about religion, which is hinted at in the film.  Phife refers to growing up as a Seventh Day Adventist, while Ali Shaheed Muhammed is Muslim.  I know that at some point during Tribe's existence, Q-Tip converted to Islam. I would have to think that that changed things also.  But maybe the group didn't want to discuss that. I can respect that, I guess.

As a group, I give A Tribe Called Quest an A. They are one of the greatest, and deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one day.  But I give this doc a B-.  I think in some ways, Rapaport was too close to the subject matter, and also isn't an experienced documentarian.  Still, I enjoyed it, and will definitely get the DVD.  If I were Sony Classics (the distributor), I'd hire a new director for the outtakes -  to get the real story behind the drama behind the film.  But I'd also get someone to go through the footage and come up with bonus features that focus on the making of the early albums, a la the very cool Classic Albums DVD series.

J. PERIOD'S Q-TIP MIX TAPE: CHECK IT OUT!

I've never been too familiar with the hip-hop mixtape scene. Most mixtapes aren't, strictly speaking, legal. But J. Period is a producer who has done a bunch of mixtapes... I don't know if they are "authorized" per se, but they are "commissioned." His latest mixtape is J. Period/Q-Tip The [Abstract] Best.

It's kind of like an audio documentary/podcast/tribute hybrid with pieces of songs, clips from interviews with Q-Tip as well as artists who he has worked with and influenced. There are new versions of some songs from his career (De La Soul cover "Excursions," Dres from Black Sheep gives his take on "Jazz" and a bunch of remixes that feature Questlove on drums). I found this collection on iTunes, where I also found a Roots mixtape by J. Period.  He occasionally posts other mixtapes at his website, if you love hip-hop, you should check it out. 

I'M NOT MAD AT ESPERANZA SPALDING!

Over the weekend, music exec Steve Stoute bought a full page ad in the New York Times to post an open letter to Neil Portnow, NARAS and The Grammys. You can read it at The Huffington Post. Stoute is a hip-hop guy, and cites some embarrassing Album of The Year gaffes, including 2001 when Steely Dan beat out Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP and 2008 when Herbie Hancock's Joni Mitchell tribute album beat out Kanye West's Graduation. Clearly he thought that Eminem's Recovery should have won this year, and it was beaten out by Arcade Fire's The Suburbs.

In 2001, I was not yet a NARAS member, but I remember being embarrassed anyway. Steely Dan's Two Against Nature was a surprising nomination to say the least, there was some excitement around the album as it was the group's first in 20 years or something. But I bet if you go to a Steely Dan concert today, their fans aren't calling out for songs from that album. Paul Simon's You're The One was also nominated. That was a really boring album, but I remember thinking that they would split the boomer vote. Also nominated was Beck's Midnite Vultures and Radiohead's Kid A. I figured those would split the white hipster vote and Eminem would win. I don't know how that didn't happen, but it certainly was an upset, and I have to think it was an embarrassment.

But not was bad as 2008. I doubt many people even knew that Herbie Hancock had released The Joni Letters. I don't really care about sales, but the record didn't feel like something that was important, and even jazz fans that I know didn't like it.  They felt that the "victory" was actually bad for jazz - the fact that people would be getting the album would ultimately be a turn-off to jazz neophytes, because the album wasn't that interesting. It beat out The Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace (a solid record, but not an Album of the Year type album), Vince Gill's quadruple album These Days (a bit too niche) and, shockingly, Amy Winehouse's Back To Black. I could see Kanye and Amy canceling each other out, but I don't see how Herbie beat the Foo Fighters or Vince Gill. A real gaffe.

This year, Arcade Fire beat Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Now, I voted for Eminem, but I'm not that upset about Arcade Fire. They sort of symbolize the mainstreaming of indie rock, and their album seemed pretty solid. Since Album of the Year was given out at the end of the night, and Arcade Fire was the last performer, Stoute felt it was a set up of some kind. Maybe the producers of the show knew who the winners were, and I agree it's cheap to schedule the show like that. But it's not that big of a deal.

Where I really (respectfully) part ways with the guy is when he makes the case that Justin Bieber should have been Artist of the Year over Esperanza Spalding. He says, "Justin Beiber, an artist that defines what it means to be a modern artist," and says "His cultural impact and success are even more quantifiable if you factor in his YouTube and Vevo viewership - the fact that he was a talent born entirely of the digital age and whose story was crafted in the humble method of being 'discovered' purely for his singing ability (and it should be noted that Justin Bieber plays piano and guitar, as evidenced on his early viral videos)."

I'll add that he also plays drums! There's no doubt in my mind that he's a talented kid. But none of those points make me feel like I should have voted for him as the Best New Artist. Sales are their own reward. So are views on YouTube and Vevo. I won't deny the kid's cultural impact. But I don't think that "biggest" = "best." Although I'm not an "anglophile" I was torn between Florence + The Machine and Mumford & Sons. Both artists have unique sounds, they ignore trends, and both were success stories with impressive sales in 2010. But I have no problem with Esperanza winning - she is also unique, clearly isn't motivated by commercial concerns, and is a good enough musician to have been an instructor at Berkley at age 20. Putting her in a category with Bieber (much less Drake and the other nominees) seems weird, but I have a hard time thinking that she somehow "robbed" Bieber. Agreeing to perform at the Grammys shouldn't be some kind of back-room deal that you are going to win anything, so I disagree with the point that Bieber was somehow "exploited" (the network decides what part of the ceremony they are going to advertise, and using Bieber to get viewers was a no-brainer). I submitted my ballot before I knew who was performing, and I think that was probably the case with most voters.

As Esperanza said in the press room, Justin will probably be fine, and if new people were exposed to her music, then I think the Grammys did us a service. Unless you think her album was bad (as opposed to just "irrelevant" based on sales), I don't see how anyone could have a problem with her victory. At any rate, her next album is going to be produced by Q-Tip, so hopefully people will be more open to hearing that one.

WHY FORGETTING GURU AT THE GRAMMYS WAS LAME

So, it's been a week since the Grammys.  There were some people who deserved to win who won, some big upsets, some great performances, some bad ones. But the thing I keep thinking about is the tribute to those who have passed away in the past year.  They forgot to mention Guru from Gang Starr, who died in April of 2010.

By the way, this isn't a post to complain about how the Grammys ignore hip-hop, I don't really think that that's the case anymore. Mainstream hip-hop stars like Jay-Z and Eminem got a lot of recognition at the Grammys this year (and probably split a lot of votes by being pitted in some categories against each other).

Guru is one of the greatest MCs of all time, but Gang Starr never really sold tons of records.   Maybe because their music was a bit too complex.  Maybe because they weren't doing whatever was commercial at the time.  Maybe because their record label didn't know how to market them.  Most likely it was a combination of all of the above, and other reasons too. Maybe this is why they forgot about him.

It's not just that Guru was a great MC, although he certainly was. Another important point is that he is exactly the type of artist who worked to bring traditional forms of music to younger audiences. In the Gang Starr song "Jazz Thing," he named dropped (or referred to) Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman, all while giving a brief history of jazz music. This is the type of thing NARAS normally loves younger musicians to do.

And Guru wasn't just giving lip service in a song, either.  In 1993, he started his Jazzamatazz series of solo records (he ultimately released four volumes), which brought jazz music to a younger audience.  They weren't gimmicky made-for-TV-award-show-collaborations.  They weren't contrived duets albums, dreamed up by marketing departments and booked based on who owed who a favor. These albums were true collaborations, based on love of jazz and mutual respect. Vol. 1 marked the first time (I think) that a hip-hop artist did an album backed by a jazz band.  Over the series, he collaborated with Branford Marsalis, Ronny Jordan, Courtney Pine, N'Dea Davenport (from The Brand New Heavies), Jamiroquai, Angie Stone, Macy Gray, The Roots, David Sanborn and Herbie Hancock, among others. It's hard to imagine that these collaborators were really based on commercial expectations. It was all artists who wanted to do what jazz does: to make music that goes somewhere new.  And maybe take jazz to a new audience. That's what NARAS should always do, particularly with genres like jazz, blues, "world music" and classical.  Keep it alive, keep it from being a museum piece. That's what Guru did. I'm not even focusing on his positive messages in songs like "Tonz O' Gunz," either, this post will go on forever. But suffice to say, this is a guy who should have been celebrated by the Academy during his lifetime.  It's too bad that they couldn't pay tribute to him, even in death.

Another interesting point is the controversy around the winner of Best New Artist: upright bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding. If she fits into any category, I guess it would be jazz. She seems like exactly the type of artist who Guru would have collaborated on Jazzamatazz V, if he were still alive to record another volume. And an interesting postscript to all of this is two tweets from Q-Tip (another hip-hop artist who really brought jazz music to the hip-hop audience) posted the night of the Grammys. One, asking people to complain to NARAS boss Neil Portnow about the exclusion of Guru from the memorial segment. And also this one: which said, "I happen 2 b producing esperanza's next Lp. She is a sweet talented woman I wish the haters wld be more careful w/ comments". If Guru were alive, I bet he'd echo the same sentiment.

BRING ME THE PHONEBOOK OF MARK RONSON

I've been a fan of Mark Ronson's work for a while.  I love the stuff that he produced for Amy Winehouse, I love the "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" remix that he did for Bob Dylan, and his solo albums come off like great parties with incredible music jams (much like the N.A.S.A. album that came out last year). But for a minute, I was wondering if he could do anything outside of his vintage soul with horn section sound. On his new album, Record Collection, he kind of jumps from the '60s to the '80s, drops the horns and picks up bands of synthesizers.

My favorite track is "Bang Bang Bang" which features Q-Tip (who has appeared on all three of his solo albums) and Amanda Warner of a group called MNDR.  But there's also a great jam called "Glass Mountain Trust" featuring D'Angelo - and where the hell has he been? If you just heard this in the background, you'd be excused for thinking it's a Cee-Lo joint. But D sounds excellent on this track, and hopefully it will inspire him to get back into the game!

I also dig "Lose It (In The End)" with Ghostface (who sampled Amy Winehouse's Ronson-produced "You Know I'm No Good," which is where I first heard it, and probably lots of other people too). Then there's "Somebody To Love Me" featuring Boy George. Come on!  Who has that kind of game, to get Ghost and Boy George on the same album! 

Anyway, if you don't know Ronson by name, you probably have heard some of the music he has worked on, but do yourself a favor and buy one of his albums (I love his last one, Version) or download some tracks. 

ROCK THE BELLS: LAURYN'S COMEBACK, TRIBE'S TRIUMPH

This weekend, the Rock The Bells festival hit NYC, and it was a great time.  The story of the day was the comeback of "Ms." Lauryn Hill. I'm a huge fan of her classic album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and I was hoping for a great performance. But, like a lot of other people, I didn't know what to expect.  Would she show up?  Would there be a meltdown?  Was it going to be like her MTV Unplugged? The answer was a bit more complex.  She showed up with a very large band (most of the main stage acts were MCs and DJs, Lauryn had two drummers, guitar, keyboards, backing singers, etc.).  All the mics caused feedback and sound problems, but Lauryn powered through her set, victoriously.

She kicked off with a fast version of "Lost Ones" followed by a few more songs from Miseducation (but not "Doo-Wop" or "Everything Is Everything").  She also did her classic but not-super-well-known cover of Bob Marley's "Turn Your Lights Down Low." She also did three Fugees songs: "How Many Mics," "Fu-Gee-La" and "Ready Or Not." I was kind of surprised by that - but she did incredible versions, and I guess the point was that she doesn't need Wyclef to perform those songs.  Her band was super-tight and obviously well-rehearsed and Lauryn was in top form: her singing sounded great, but she was spitting rhymes with fire. She was also inspired by the crowd on the side of her stage, including her children (five or six of them!), plus celebs like Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, John Legend and Chris Rock. I don't know what her next move will be, but it should be interesting!

The other huge highlight of the day (for me) was A Tribe Called Quest's performance of Midnight Marauders. Last time I saw Tribe it was at Rock The Bells two years ago, and that night Q-Tip performed one solo set and then one with Tribe. This time it was all about the Tribe, and they were amazing.   They are so tight and well-rehearsed, they don't rap over their record, they rap over the beats that were used on the record. Ali Shaheed Muhammed is a great DJ, and Tip and Phife Dawg have a great bond and vibe going. Later on in the set, founding member of the group Jarobi joined them.  Also joining them for a few songs: Large Professor and Main Source for "Fakin' The Funk." Then of course towards the end of their set, Busta Rhymes for "Scenario." Incredible show and the highlight of my day.

Wu-Tang Clan: nothing to fuck wit', apparently!  Last time I saw them was at Rock The Bells a few years back, in my pre-blogging days.  They were great, it amazes me that a group with so many MCs keep it together for a tight set.  I've seen some messy Wu-Tang shows over the years, but they were great this year, sticking with material from their debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Ol' Dirty Bastard was represented by his son, Boy Jones, who sounded just like his dad.

It was great to see KRS-One and Rakim at the same show. I'd never seen Rakim before, and I heard he was boring live.  Not true.  He was supposed to be performing the Eric B. & Rakim album Paid In Full, and he played most of it, throwing in just a purfunctory 5 seconds of the instrumental "Chinese Arithmatic." It's a bummer that he and Eric B. can't get it together to reunite.  KRS-One did a cool set, but talked a bit too much.  Unfortunately, I got there too late to see Slick Rick, and I left before Snoop Dogg (there were only two ferries to take everyone to and from the island, and I didn't want to wait on an hours-long line). But it was a great show, and I have to give props to the Rock The Bells people for always putting on a great show.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: GREAT, OVERLOOKED ALBUMS OF THE '00S

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ on the show The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick. Tomorrow I will be talking about some albums from the past decade that I really like, and that I feel are a bit overlooked.

Possibly my favorite album of the decade is one of the first ones to come out: Aimee Mann's unbelievable Bachelor No. 2 or the last remains of the dodo. Truthfully, the album started coming out in 1999, on the Magnolia soundtrack, which was released on December 7 (the film hit theaters on December 25). Here's the great story: Aimee had a history of battling record labels. She had to fight Epic to get off of that label after her band 'til tuesday broke up. She signed to the indie label Imago, and released her solo debut, 1993's classic Whatever. Imago folded, and after legal wrangling, she got her second album, the also classic I'm With Stupid released on Geffen. But eventually that label was folded into Interscope, and by the time she was ready with album number three, the label had totally changed to a durst/dre/eminem obsessed label, with little room for someone like Aimee. They didn't hear a single. Apparently, Aimee bought the album back at great cost and released it on her own, and she has been an independent artist ever since (although you rarely hear her described as "indie," although you do hear The Strokes - signed to RCA - as "indie." George Orwell spins in his grave!). Anyway, the great director Paul Thomas Anderson, who had worked with Mr. Mann - Michael Penn - on his then-latest movie, Boogie Nights, heard Aimee's "Deathly," and started writing Mangolia, using the line "Now that I've met you, would you object to never seeing each other again?" Aimee's songs sort of narrated the film, and the soundtrack featured mostly her songs, some of which were also on Bachelor. None of this would matter if the songs weren't so amazing, but, wow, they were. She is one of my favorite artists of all time, and this is her finest moment. This album never ceases to blow me away. She always gets critical props, but you never heard of her on "best of" lists. She is on my "VERY best of" list. And on a personal note, it was an interview with Aimee about her Smilers album that I met Larry Flick - I was interviewing her for the SIRIUS website, Larry for his show, and we became friends after that, leading to me being a weekly contributor to his show.

Conventional wisdom says that Elton John stopped making cool music long ago. And for the most part, that's true (I love some of his '80s and '90s stuff, like "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," "Empty Garden," "The One," "Sacrifice," "Believe" and "The Last Song" to name a few exceptions). I don't even feel bad saying it, Elton says it himself. His 2001 album Songs From The West Coast is one of his very best albums, and it came when people weren't even paying attention. It's too bad, it is an incredible album. What happened? My theory: lyricist Bernie Taupin went through a divorce (his third I think?)and wrote some very emotional lyrics. And Elton was rediscovering simply recorded music, notably that of Ryan Adams. In the liner notes, he writes, "Special thanks to Ryan Adams, who inspired me to do better." At the time he was really into Ryan's solo debut, Heartbreaker. If you like Elton, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also in 2001, Stevie Nicks released Trouble In Shangri-La. I definitely do not think that anyone expected a decent album from her at that point. I know it took me by surprise. It may not have had a monster smash hit single like "Stand Back" or "Edge Of Seventeen," but I will say that it is her best solo album ever. Part of it is that the album was partly produced by Sheryl Crow, who I think was more motivated to make a great Stevie album, than (maybe) making her own album. Not that Sheryl didn't care about her own music, but she really wanted to do Stevie justice, and on the song "Sorcerer," she does. I think that helped the rest of the album, produced by John Shanks, to be really great. She was also coming off of the huge success of the Fleetwood Mac song "Silver Springs," which the band rejected from Rumours, and which became a humongous hit on their reunion album The Dance. I don't have a total theory for this one, Stevie just had "it" back.

Fiona Apple's 2005 Extraordinary Machine got tons of press at the time, but doesn't seem to be talked about much anymore. This one has a story also. She first worked on it with Jon Brion, with whom she had worked before (and who also produced Aimee Mann's Bachelor No. 2), but was delayed over and over by the label. The album leaked, there was a huge fan-driven campaign to get the album out, which the press picked up (and maybe blew out of proportion, but it made a good story) and then she re-recorded almost the entire album with Mike Elizondo, well known as a musician who worked for Dr. Dre. He didn't make it a hip-hop album, of course, but he did give it a snap that really worked.


Finally, Q-Tip's album from last year, The Renaissance. Tip never gets the props he deserves, and I guess that may be his lot in life because he is ambitious and never panders. That is sometimes the burden of an artist I guess, and Q-Tip is a true artist. Forget wayne and whoever else is getting all the press, listen to this album, it's great.

Of course, there are so many other unsung albums from the decade, I may get to some more in two or three weeks. If you have any suggestions, that's what the comments area is for!

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: THE GRAMMY NOMS (or, MAXWELL IS ABOUT TO GET A SALES BUMP!)

I’m going on OutQ again tomorrow on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick to discuss tonight’s Grammy nominations. Last year, I really liked the way the Grammys panned out, with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss winning five for their classic album Raising Sand. I loved that album, and felt it deserved all the recognition it got. It was a victory for art. Sorry Lil Wayne. I don’t feel as enthused this year: Beyonce leads with ten nominations and Taylor Swift has eight. I enjoy songs by both ladies, but I’m not passionate about either. I was, however, glad to see Maxwell with six for his BLACKsummer’snight album. Some people didn’t even know he was back! His album came out in July and debuted at #1, but that doesn’t mean what it used to, and anyway, it didn’t seem to make an impact on the culture at all, and it disappeared pretty quickly. So, I’m glad that this will help him out. The Black Eyed Peas and Kanye West both got six also: I enjoy both artists, but I don’t like either of their new albums. Lady Gaga got five. I don’t object to her, but I’m not passionate about her music either. In fact, I don’t feel very opinionated about any of the “big four” categories. I was hoping that Willie Nelson would get more nods than he did: he got just three. I thought he would do better than that, given that he released two very different and very good albums, Willie & The Wheel and American Classic. My favorite album of the year, Bob Dylan’s Together Through Life, got two nods.

I don’t have huge opinions about the Pop field, and I probably won’t vote in Dance. I usually skip Traditional Pop, but I may vote there this year, since Willie has a nomination there.

Rock has some good stuff: Best Solo Rock performance pits Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Prince and John Fogerty against each other. (I will vote for Dylan). Other rock nods went to Green Day, AC/DC, Alice In Chains, Metallica, Pearl Jam (glad to see “The Fixer” get props), U2 and overrated band of the year Kings Of Leon. The thing is, I have to admit I was ultimately not blown away by Bruce, U2 and Green Day’s albums. They were all solid, but not as good as their prior albums. I will probably skip the alternative field, which features David Byrne & Brian Eno (zzzzz…), Death Cab For Cutie, Depeche Mode, Phoenix (who I can’t stand) and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

R&B will require me to buy a lot of new music, there’s a lot of not-well-known-by-the-mainstream artists in the field, including Melanie Fiona, Lalah Hathaway, Ledisi, Jazmine Sullivan, Anthony Hamilton, Musiq Soulchild, Robert Randolph, as well as Beyonce and Maxwell.

Rap is pretty good this year. It surprises me to hear myself say that, because I’m not a huge fan of contemporary hip-hop. But I really actually like Jay-Z’s songs, “Death of Autotune” and “Run This Town” (with Kanye West and Rihanna). I also really like nominated songs by The Beastie Boys with Nas, Kid Cudi with Kanye and Common, T.I. with Justin Timberlake, and Mos Def. And Lonely Island featuring T-Pain. I was really glad to see Q-Tip’s super-underrated The Renaissance getting a nod as well.

I don’t have a huge opinion on this year’s country artists, but I was glad to see nods go to Miranda Lambert, Jamey Johnson and Patty Griffin (!).

My favorite category overall is Best Americana Album. Three of my favorite albums of the year are nominated: Dylan’s Together Through Life, Willie’s Willie & The Wheel and Levon Helm’s Electric Dirt, along with Wilco’s Wilco (The Album) and Lucinda Williams’ Little Honey. I’ll vote for Dylan.

While I’m not a huge fan of Bruce’s Working On A Dream album, “The Wrestler” was probably my favorite song of last year, and I’m glad it is up for Best Song from a Movie. But that will probably go to A.R. Rahman’s “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire.

I guess there are some things I'll be "rooting" for: Pearl Jam's "The Fixer," Bruce's "The Wrestler," Q-Tip and Willie, but there's no way I'll be as into it as I was last year. I do hope Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye peform "Run This Town." It would be great to see Rihanna have a triumphant return to the Grammys after last year's horrible mess.

NORAH IS WORKIN' IT

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Norah Jones didn't really know how to handle the incredible success she experienced early in her career, and for a while, she seemed to back away from it. These days, it doesn't seem to bother her (it shouldn't), and she seems to be working a bit more than she has in the past to get her music heard. The first single from her upcoming album, The Fall, due out November 17, is "Chasing Pirates." The video is above, and premiered exclusively on VH1.com. You can get the single when you pre-order the album at iTunes, and the deluxe iTunes version features covers of a few songs, including Johnny Cash's "Cry, Cry, Cry" and Wilco's "Jesus, Inc." And, according to a Entertainment Weekly online exclusive, she having remixes of her songs done by The Beastie Boys, Beck and Santigold.

Meanwhile, the other video above is Norah with Q-Tip, "Life Is Better." It is from Tip's 2009 overlooked classic, The Renaissance. In a way, it promotes Norah as much as it does Tip. Anyway, I'm a big fan of Norah's, and I'm excited to hear the new album.

Q-TIP'S INDUSTRY RULE #4080...

In A Tribe Called Quest's classic "Check The Rime," Q-Tip said, "Industry rule #4080, record company people are shady." Having had a number of his albums shelved by labels, he's still living that line today. But now AllHipHop reports that Tip is going to put out a book called Industry Rules, about, well, the industry, as well as fashion, love and morality. I'd read that.

And of course, I recently wrote about his Kamaal/The Abstract album, which is actually going to come out.

Q-TIP'S KAMAAL/THE ABSTRACT IS FINALLY COMING OUT

Between Q-Tip's solo debut, 1999's Amplified, and last year's The Renaissance, Q-Tip recorded two albums that were unreleased by the record label he was signed to. One of them, Kamaal/The Abstract, will finally be released in September. I have heard some of it (it was so close to being released that advance CDs went out to critics), and it is a pretty cool album.

BEST OF '08: Q-TIP'S THE RENAISSANCE

The Renaissance by Q-Tip is my favorite hip-hop album of the year. It doesn't pander, Tip's not bending over for the industry, or to be "current," he's not hitting up the hottest producers of the moment or guest MCs. He's pictured in the CD booklet (and on the cover) with a sampler and a keyboard - pointing out that he makes his own beats, he has the vision behind his music. He ain't the guy waiting for someone to give him some beats or samples.

None of that would be important if the album wasn't great though. I totally dig it. The single, "Gettin' Up," is great and there's so many other great songs, "Move," "Johnny Is Dead," and the really surprising "Life Is Better," which features Norah Jones. Norah's becoming quite the hip-hop collaborator, having also worked with Wyclef, Andre 3000 and Talib Kweli. Anyway, this album is great, but it isn't going to get shoved down your throat. These days in hip-hop, it seems like you aren't relevant unless you don't have a huge marketing campaign behind you, corporate tie-ins, film roles, etc. Whatever. If you love hip-hop, check this one out.

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: Q-TIP, RAPHAEL SAADIQ, JOHN LEGEND, KANYE

So this week's theme is going to be
hip-hop and R&B. First off is Q-Tip's new album, The Renaissance. I'm glad it came out at all - his last two albums were shelved by his record labels. He is a really ambitious artist, and doesn't pander, and that may be why he has never sold tons of records, but it's also why people still care about him after all these years. His last album came out in 1999! That's a long time in any genre, especially hip-hop. He has some cool guests on the album, including Norah Jones, D'Angelo (also on sabbatical) and Raphael Saadiq. It's a really ambitious album, and I really dig it.

Speaking of Raphael, I really dig his album, The Way I See It. It's more than a tribute to Motown, it's more like a thank you letter. I believe in saying "thank you," and I love old Motown, so I'm cool with this album. I'm sure some people will complain that it sounds too old-school Motownish. This is my favorite of the albums I'll be talking about this week.

I was really looking forward to John Legend's new album, Evolver. I like it, but don't love it. it sounds very contemporary R&B, and is a bit more Brian McKnight than Al Green or Marvin Gaye. That's just my take. I like "Everybody Knows," and also his Estelle collaboration, "No Other Love," which features the great reggae sax player Dean Fraser. I also like his Barack Obama tribute song, "If You're Out There." The great thing about John Legend: you don't have to enjoy every album equally, he's gonna be around for a long time.

I'm also talking about tracks from upcoming albums by Common and Kanye West. Common's has a very Afrika Bambaataa electro sound (the songs were actually produced by Pharell) and I like them. I'm not super into Kanye's new autotune heavy singing.

VH1'S HIP-HOP HONORS

I was glad to see one of my favorite groups of all time, de la soul, get their due at the Hip-Hop Honors. It took Q-Tip, Estelle (John Legend's protegee), Cee-Lo, Public Enemy with Mos Def and EPMD to pay tribute to them. The only problem was that each segment was too short (no pun intended).  It's just too bad that PE and Mos Def's collab was like, one minute long. 

And they need to honor EPMD next year! They are way more influential than some other artists who have been honored. But it was also great to see Cypress Hill and Slick Rick get honored.  I wasn't as big of a fan of Naughty By Nature or Too $hort. 

Anyway, great show, I remember working at the first Hip-Hop Honors, and there was some initial skepticism about Video Hits 1 doing a hip-hop awards show. But it was awesome, and they've done a great job on all the subsequent ones. (Although tough to beat the original lineup, which included PE, Run-D.M.C. and KRS-One). 

"REAL HIP-HOP" WAS INDEED IN THE MUTHAF@#$IN' HOUSE: ROCK THE BELLS 2008

The Rock The Bells 2008 tour was a great time, but before I talk about it, I gotta thank my friend Angela Yee from Shade 45 for getting me in, and my friend Su for getting me a ticket! 

The behind the scenes stuff was a mess, and the waiting time between artists was way too long, but why dwell on that. It was a great show. I got there a few hours after it started, but as I got to my seats, dead prez were wrapping up their set with their classic song, "Hip-Hop." They are group who definitely have something to say: I wish I liked their music more. Speaking of having something to say, the next artist was Immortal Technique. He's a little bit to the left of me, but I liked his tracks and definitely appreciated that he has something to say. I may not even agree with everything he says, I don't know, but I am at least interested. 

Then de la soul came on. de la was the first hip-hop group I ever saw perform: it was at The Ritz in New York City back in like '89 or maybe '90, they were opening for Living Colour. Back then they came off a bit goofy, but I don't feel bad saying that: a few years ago, I got to interview Pos, Dave and Mase and when I mentioned that show they were all like "Oh no!" But they've toured so extensively since then, they've got their thing down, and they are one of the tightest live hip-hop acts that you'll see.  It was tough for them to squeeze their set into 35 minutes or whatever, but they did good. Q-Tip joined them for a bit of "Buddy," and Dres from Black Sheep joined them, yes, for "The Choice Is Yours." Say what you want about "one-hit wonders," it must feel good to have thousands of people chanting along with your big hit from 15 years ago. On the other hand, it was clearly a bitch to have to follow that song up. 

Raekwon The Chef and Ghostface Killa were next. Here's my problem: like quite a few hip-hop crews, these guys let everyone they know come on stage with them. That might be cool at a club (I'd argue that it isn't cool even in a club). But at a huge venue, it doesn't work. I was so far away, I couldn't really see who was who. Most of the people on stage didn't even have mics. So why did they need to be there? But the performance was mostly tight. I like Ghost's new song "Be Easy." But the old stuff like "Ice Cream" and "Incarcerated Scarfaces" of course got everyone out of their seats. 

Then Mos Def. For my money, he's one of the most talented cats out there, but I sometimes think he needs some focus. The guy is a great lyricist, has awesome delivery, can sing soulfully, but also do rock and reggae, and has lots of presence. He's always got so much going on: hip-hop, his rock band, his big band, spoken word, acting, etc. I think he's had some great cameos, but other than the Black Star album and his solo debut Black On Both Sides. And that was kind of the deal with the beginning of his set: there were these weird scenery videos going on, and the performance wasn't too gripping. Then Talib Kweli hit the stage. Next level, how ya doin'? I know those guys aren't too anxious to do another Black Star album for fear that it won't live up to the first one, but I don't know, if they really focus, maybe they can do it. "Respiration" was great. Too bad Common wasn't there (it would have been cool if he'd joined de la as well). 

Considering how much Method Man and Redman seem to enjoy blowing trees, it's surprising how tight they were. Meth kept yelling the same "The same amount of energy you give us, we'll give back to you!" thing he yelled at last year's festival, when he played with The Wu-Tang Clan. He seemed to have more fun with Red, though, and the crowd seemed more into them. They're plugging Blackout 2, the sequel to their first album, Blackout, from 1999. But they hardly played any songs from that album; too bad, it was really underrated. Other than "Da Rockwilder" (which they did play) I liked "Mi Casa," "Cereal Killer" and "1,2,1,2." Ghostface joined them, which was cool. And Erick Sermon and Parish Smith (a.k.a. EPMD) also joined them, which was cooler. They did "You Gots To Chill." Slick Rick also popped on stage for a second or two to recite the hook to "La Di Da Di." 

Nas is kind of having his moment right now: his untitled album is at #1 despite controversy over its original title. I was surprised to see that he was backed by a band, along with DJ Green Lantern. (GL calls himself "The Evil Genius," which - no disrespect - makes no sense. Why doesn't he call himself Sinestro if he's evil? That's some comic book stuff.) They opened with a new song "Slave/Master" which was pretty powerful, and then went into the title track from 2006's Hip-Hop Is Dead (a great song to play live with a band). Then he kicked into a bunch of songs off of his classic debut Illmatic, followed by other his from his career (including "One Mic" and "Hate Me Now." And Jay-Z joined him for "Black Republicans." Predictably, people went nuts for the former President of Def Jam. I'm not a fan, but I had to admit, it was pretty cool. A lot of people weren't feeling the band thing. I thought it worked at some points, and others it didn't, but it was overall a good set. 

Next, Q-Tip hit the stage with DJ Scratch and did stuff from his upcoming album (but not the cool song "Work It Out," some Tribe stuff, and his earlier solo hits like "Vivrant Thing" and "Breathe And Stop." He had a band but no drummer, which was pretty weird. It didn't totally work for me as much as I wanted it to. Still, I believe Tip may have a few classic albums in him, his mind is in the right place. 

It's probably almost too easy for Tip to play with A Tribe Called Quest again. Still, they are so awesome together, it would be a shame for them not to do it anymore. I hope that he can balance his solo career with Tribe - even if it is just Tribe concerts and not new music. They were awesome, and when Busta Rhymes joined them for "Scenario," it just tore the place up. 

Great night, and thanks to Shade 45/Flow TV personality Angela Yee for getting me through the gate and my pal and former intern Su for hooking me up with a ticket.  I took some pictures, but they were from far away, I gotta look at them and decide if I want to post them. 

NIGEL GODRICH TO PRODUCE Q-TIP'S NEXT ALBUM

Risky choice from The Abstract. Q-Tip's last two albums were shelved by record labels and remain commercially unreleased. So, hooking up with Nigel Godrich - the dude most well known for producing Radiohead, but he's also worked with Beck, Travis, Pavement and Paul McCartney - isn't the most commercial choice. You gotta respect Tip for sticking with his vision, damn the consequences.

It's good that Tip will be getting back in the public eye this summer by reuniting with A Tribe Called Quest for the Rock The Bells tour.

CAN HE KICK IT? (YES HE CAN!)

Black Eyed Peas' leader will.i.am has a "hit" youtube video with his pro-Barack Obama clip "Yes We Can." But now Q-Tip may actually get the hopeful future prez to contribute to his upcoming album.

Well, according to something called "page six" in the New York Post (no, I'm not linking) anway. Not the most accurate source for any information.

I know having rock stars, hip-hop stars, or other celebs endorsing candidates in public forums really bothers some people, but tough nails, I say. "How are they qualified to talk about politics?" they'll ask. I just say, our current president isn't really qualified to talk about politics either. They pay taxes, and even if they're not American, everyone is affected by the outcome of our elections.

So, here's hoping for another "Vote For Change" type event this year. I'm glad to hear that Tom Morello of System Of A Down's Serj Tankian are doing an Axis Of Justice tour this year.

COMMON WORKING ON A NEW ALBUM

MTV is reporting that Common is already working on the follow-up to last year's Finding Forever, which was one of the best albums of the year, in my opinion. 

I wish Common had Jay-Z's level of success.  Of course, he's not as good of a marketer, and is more artistically ambitious. Which is why I'm glad that he has had a decent run of good fortune in recent years: from hooking up with Kanye West, who exec-produced his last two albums, to getting some sweet acting gigs, including the recent American Gangster.  He's also going to be in the upcoming adaptation of the very cool comic book series Wanted, and he's supposedly going to play Green Lantern in the Justice League movie, if that movie ever happens. 

He says in the MTV interview (linked above) that being in films frees up his music a bit. I guess some might think that when an artist "goes Hollywood," they try and water down their music to be the biggest star to the most people.  I don't think Common is wired like that: I think he knows that he'll end up making way more on movies than on music, so why not be as ambitious as possible with his music, since the bills are being paid anyway. 

So, I'm looking forward to Common's new album, as well as his upcoming project with another of the great MCs of all time, Q-Tip. 

AWARD TOUR

When I first heard about this year's VH1 Hip-Hop Honors, I wasn't impressed. I heard they were honoring Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliot and Whodini. Not to be a "hater," in the parlance of the times, but Snoop always seems more like a great character (or guest MC) than a guy who makes classic records. Missy seems to to be a bit too young for this honor (I felt the same way about The Wu-Tang Clan, there's still lots of acts from the '80s who deserve recognition first) and I was never into Whodini.

Then I found out A Tribe Called Quest were also being honored. They're not just one of my favorite hip-hop groups, they're one of my favorite groups, period. I would probably put the MC team of Q-Tip and Phife Dawg against that of any other group. And Ali Shaheed is a great DJ/producer, and a very underrated one. Anyway, the tribute was cool: Common, Lupe Fiasco, Pharell Williams of The Neptunes and Busta Rhymes did a pretty cool performance (Mr. Fiasco messed up the lyrics which led to a, well, fiasco, which you can read about on... well, every hip-hop blog), and Tribe themselves was great.

The honor came at an interesting time: Q-Tip has been on tour, trying to re-ignite his solo career. His solo debut, 1999's Amplified, had a huge hit with "Vivrant Thing," but didn't do that well (maybe because the single came out on a Tribe best of and a Violator management compilation before Amplified was released), and because he seemed a bit, uh, Puffy, which many fans took offense to. The follow-up, the mainly instrumental Kamaal The Abstract (with Tip on keyboards) was shelved by the record label, and so was the next one, Open (although he did release the single, "For The Nasty," with Busta). How many artists do two unreleased albums in a row? Tribe has done some reunion shows in the past few years, and I hope they continue to do them. I was sorry to hear about Phife's problems with diabetes, and I'm glad he seems to be doing well.

I'm looking forward to see what Q-Tip does in the future. He's one of the few guys in hip-hop who I can see really making great albums in his 40s and beyond.