- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
The subtlety of musicianship on each track is quite brilliant.
-
If we measure Q-Tip's success at "abstractionism" in terms of how his voice, message, and golden ear complement each other to bring out hip-hop's full musical potential, then Kamaal is a clear success on the artist's own terms.
-
This belongs a lot more to the R&B/Neo-soul side of hip-hop; it's a terrific way for the Queens rapper to showcase his impressive skill as a musical artist.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
With Kamaal, one of hip-hop's finest has once again redefined his game--and upped the ante for the whole hip-hop genre in the process.
-
As an album, it's a joy to listen to most of the way through. It's more consistent than "Amplified," though not as interesting overall, and both more consistent and more interesting than "The Renaissance."
-
Feb 23, 2011Buried at Track 7, the developed rhyme, unkiltered time, unsettling keyboards, and Kenny Garrett sax coda of "Abstractionisms" deliver what the flowery "Caring" and the endless "Do You Dig U?" emphatically do not: the "brand new sound" the finale only brags about.
-
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.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 10 out of 11
-
Mixed: 0 out of 11
-
Negative: 1 out of 11
-
Apr 20, 2016
-
MarkoOct 14, 2009Another example why pitchfork should never review anything outside of their hipster comfort level.