Q-Tip’s Amplified (1999) is some ridiculously groovy shit

[The Mollusk]

Jesus this guy's so good isn't he?

This album is crazy minimal but it still bubbles and vibrates and absolutely spanks. Almost every tune rides the same consistent groove with bright, snappy percussion, a house-shaking sub bass pulse and the slickest, cheekiest and most infectious MC you could ever wish to hear. His delivery has got so much soul and such smart, simple humour that catches you off guard and makes you actually laugh, but it's not goofy, it's the coolest shit ever, like Young MC in '89. Musically it also reminds me strongly of Prince, the king of conjuring a massive vibe from something so relatively stripped back. Q-Tip and J Dilla absolutely on fire here.

Literally the only duff track is the inexplicable KoRn feature on the penultimate song. I mean, I'm a KoRn defender, but they don't fit here at all. The album veers drastically into it and it's such a wooOoOo spooky angsty shitty thing. Ugh my god it's really bad, I've got no fucking clue why anyone thought it was a good idea. And it fades out and then back in again at the end! Fuck off with this atrocity!

Anyway, this is some seriously good shit:

Let's Ride

Breathe and Stop

Wait Up

[kalowski]

Man, Q-Tip is such a good rapper. Hus rhythm, cadence and just the sound of his voice are all sublime.

[badaids]

The beats on his tracks are always as sick as fuck too - I don't know how the produces them to sound like that but they're always clomping and crisp at the same time.

[jamiefairlie]

Shame Paul's voice is so knackered now that even the Wealthy Tarts couldn't help him.

[jobotic]

Let's Ride would have been my first in line too.


Imagine if Phife was there too though. You on point 'Tip?

[The Mollusk]

The beats on his tracks are always as sick as fuck too - I don't know how the produces them to sound like that but they're always clomping and crisp at the same time.

He definitely has an ear for it which sets him apart from a lot of his peers. Even though in essence what he's doing - sampling funk tracks into repetitious loops - is no different from any other hip hop producer, there's a distinct feeling that he's wielding this stuff into his very own sound. Again, much like Prince, this stuff sounds meticulous in a way that feels effortless, on the surface it almost looks easy but once it boogies into your brain all these alien qualities crackle and pop out of the seams. The big tape hiss and militant swagger of the beat on "Let's Ride" is instantly infectious, and as soon as that space age sci-fi sample introduces the guitar lick you feel like you're in the back seat of that car with the wheels hovering above the ground.

edit: Don't wanna take credit away from Dilla either as he's responsible for a lot of the production work on this album!

[thelittlemango]

Q-Tip is underrated as a producer, you rarely hear him listed alongside the big names of the era (DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock) because it's not credited as solely him (often 'The Ummah') and I think people wrongly assumed Ali Shaheed Muhammad did the Tribe stuff because he was the DJ.

When you read about Tip's vision for all of the projects he worked on, and how single minded he was, and how he was finding the samples, bringing in collaborators, producing tracks, writing lyrics you can tell that he was responsible for the vast majority of the early stuff. He pops up in so many anecdotes, from sending Nas the 'One Love' beat in pause tape format (meaning he sat there with a tape player pressing record and pause, record and pause perfectly timed to manually loop the sample for 5 minutes), either mentoring someone (Dilla) or coming in to help on projects, I love this article about his input into Mobb Deep's 'The Infamous':

https://genius.com/a/how-q-tip-played-a-major-role-in-shaping-mobb-deeps-the-infamous

Amplified was seen as a disappointment upon release and still doesn't get a great deal of respect, but when it hit, it HITS and there is some amazing stuff on there.

[Proactive]

One of my favourite things on YouTube https://youtu.be/3nQrzxwhTos

[Better Midlands]

Hey @thelittlemango have you been watching DJ Premier's So Wassup series on YouTube?

[thelittlemango]

Hey @thelittlemango have you been watching DJ Premier's So Wassup series on YouTube?

I haven't but will check it out, any excuse to listen to Premo's increasingly Louis Armstrong sounding voice.

[Joe Oakes]

As a kid, I once met Preemo and Guru at an Our Price record signing for Love Sick 12" release. I cheekily asked Preemo to sell me his hat, without truly believing that there was any chance of him actually letting me have it. Incredibly, and I still can't quite believe it to this day, but the utter legend looked directly in my young innocent eyes, and said "hell nah". Some hip-hop scholars say this interaction directly inspired the song Take It Personal.

[chveik]

Imagine if Phife was there too though. You on point 'Tip?

phife dawg, rest his soul, was sadly a pretty mediocre rapper

[jobotic]

On his own maybe but together they were wonderful. Some of my favourite moments on the Low End Theory are his.

Didn't he do a solo album? Never heard it

[Proactive]

phife dawg, rest his soul, was sadly a pretty mediocre rapper

Was he fucking fuck mate.

[non capisco]

phife dawg, rest his soul, was sadly a pretty mediocre rapper

He's definitely a bit shakey on some of 'People's Instinctive Travels..' but I think he's reliably mint from 'The Low End Theory' onwards.

Always loved his delivery of the following from 'Award Tour'

The wackest crews try to diss, it makes me laugh
When my track record's longer than a DC-20 aircraft
So, next time that you think you want something here
Make something deffer, take that garbage to St. Elsewhere

He certainly went out strong on 'We Got It From Here...' as well. Love his stuff on that album. Footage of the  posthumous TV performances of 'We The People' where they unfurl the backdrop with his image on when it got to his verse really choked me up. Tribe never made a bad album and I include 'The Love Movement' which some people seem to dislike for some reason.

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

I preferred the first album where you could understand the words.