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- Summary: Seven years later, Q-Tip finally sees his second album officially released. Arista Records shelved the album in 2002, which features a more jazzy feel than his debut, "Amplified."
- Record Label: Battery
- Genre(s): Alternative, Rap, R&B, Soul
- More Details and Credits »
Top Track
| A Million Times | |
|---|---|
| [Instrumental] ... | See the rest of the song lyrics |
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 13
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Mixed: 0 out of 13
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Negative: 0 out of 13
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This wasn't the kind of record that lights up the charts--which could account for the reason it didn't appear on the shelves in late April 2002, as expected, and only earned an official release in 2009--but in many ways it's superior to the released Amplified.
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There are few high or low moments--which might put some listeners off--but texture and content, rather than pulse-raising histrionics, have always been Q-Tip specialties.
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Soulful and organic, with roots in jazz and funk, Kamaal the Abstract finds Q-Tip not only rhyming in his trademark nasal cadence, but also singing--and surprisingly well to boot.
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It's not that the record is so unclassifiable--shit is downright pleasant to listen to--as it exudes the confidence to acknowledge its influences and contemporaries with the same convivial grace that has marked Q-Tip's entire career.
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Q-Tip's voice retains its loose, slippery allure, but the disc feels like a worthy experiment abandoned halfway through; it doesn't end so much as nod off.
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Alternately sublime and aimless, Abstract is the sound of an artist evolving on wax, and while the growing pains show, they also help make the music surprisingly resonant.
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Kamaal the Abstract is not a great record by any means. But it is an interesting one, a unique effort by an artist struggling to mesh two disparate musical systems, gambling that inherent internal friction could spark some excitement.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 3 out of 3
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Mixed: 0 out of 3
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Negative: 0 out of 3
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MarkoOct 14, 2009Another example why pitchfork should never review anything outside of their hipster comfort level.
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Apr 20, 2016
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