Q-Tip
Q-Tip is one of hip-hop’s greatest MCs and producers. As a member of A Tribe Called Quest, he helped to shape the sound of hip-hop throughout the ’90s. The group’s exceptional run of full-lengths became a blueprint for MCs looking to balance the literate and the absurd, as well as producers searching for the perfect (and unexpected) break. Since Tribe’s split in 1998, Q-Tip has kept busy with a solo career that has included multiple solo albums, countless productions, and guest appearances in places both expected (Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, and Jay-Z) and improbable (Chemical Brothers, R.E.M.).
In this talk at the 2013 Red Bull Music Academy, Q-Tip discussed standout Tribe cuts, working with J Dilla, the Zulu Nation, and much more.
Hosted by Jeff “Chairman” Mao Thanks everybody for joining us this afternoon. We are, of course, on the last
day and very excited to welcome this gentleman to my right. He had a hand in
some of yours and some of my favorite recordings in the world of hip-hop as a
producer, artist, and as a member of a group called A Tribe Called Quest. So
please do welcome, Q-Tip. [applause] Good afternoon, sir. Q-Tip Good afternoon, sir. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I often like to start these sessions just with a little bit of music, just to
sort of reset things. This is something coming off of your last album, which
actually was already released 2008. Q-Tip Oh, wow. Jeff “Chairman” Mao So, it’s been a couple years, but I think it’s representative of a lot of
different facets of your career, and that’s kind of why I wanted to play it.
And we can have a little talk about it after we heard a little piece of this. So why don’t we drop this, something from Q-Tip, entitled? Q-Tip ”Gettin’ Up.” So let’s see if this works. (music: Q-Tip – “Gettin’ Up” / applause) Q-Tip [fades music] Sorry. Jeff “Chairman” Mao What made you stop it? What happened? Q-Tip I mean, two things, it’s hard for me to listen to myself. And then the second
thing, which is probably why the first thing is true, is like I just hear
mistakes and things I could do better. [laughs] I was like, “Oh, OK, I
could’ve done that.” Jeff “Chairman” Mao What mistakes do you hear in this recording? Q-Tip Well, it’s not that it’s a mistake, because it’s probably the most perfect record – I’m just kidding. [laughter] No, you just hear things that you could, “Oh, I could have did this,” or “I
could have did that,” you know what I’m saying? It’s like I’m constantly
painting, even with stuff I look at. I’m like, “Ah, I could have did ‘du du du
du du.’” Jeff “Chairman” Mao Well, I mean, is there something specific that stood out to you? Just curious. Q-Tip I probably could have done another, like a B section, you know what I’m saying, on it, another little change of something. But I kind of liked it because it just had an airy feeling, you know what I’m saying? And it was kind of like the antithesis of a lot of the stuff that was out at that time. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Yeah. I mean, I said that I feel like this song is kind of representative of a
lot of different things that are characteristics of your style. I mean, I
guess one thing is it’s a three-bar loop. You’ve done that a few times in your
career, and I wonder what sort of vibe that gives off. Do you believe, or is
that something that had just sort of happened? I mean, “Electric
Relaxation,” the Mobb Deep track, “Drink Away the Pain.” There’s another one I’m blanking on right now, but from Midnight
Marauders. Q-Tip Yeah. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Is it “Lyrics To Go”? It has a three-bar loop. Q-Tip Yeah. Jeff “Chairman” Mao When you find something like that, and you decide that that’s what you’re going to use, what energy do you think that puts out? Q-Tip You know what? I feel like that those things pronounce the rhythm even more
because it’s so kind of like left of center of the 4/4 thing that’s happening. So, just like putting it against it, it just makes it to me stick out more. It makes it more pronounced, but in a good way, and it also soffits the 4/4 rhythm or whatever, you know, that even number that’s there on the bottom. It just soffits it even more when you have whatever harmonic or melodic thing
that you have going on on top of it happening in its odd meter. I just think
it’s interesting. And then, you know, for me to be kind of carrying on in an even meter against all of that is just an interesting cocktail to me, and I didn’t really hear anybody in rap really approach it that way. Do anything
like that or mess with sick time signature like that, you know? Jeff “Chairman” Mao What do you use as a set-up now if you’re at home and you’re starting to make
something? Q-Tip I just built this studio, so currently I’m dealing with the renaissance, the
MPC renaissance, the Ableton Push Live 9. And I like those because they’re really like instruments to me. I’m from the school of like puttin’ my hands on it, tappin’ it out, playin’ it, puttin’ that feeling in it. So, I feel like that those boxes enable me to still carry on that tradition, but still look ahead. And other than that, turntables. I keep it pretty simple. I also play
some keys and all that stuff, and I have players I work with sometimes who get
on something and then I’ll take it, what we played, and chop it and re-chop
it, or I’ll tell them to play something. So it’s just such a crazy combination of things. But primarily, those are the boxes I work with. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Being a vocalist and a producer, is there a particular process or a starting
point for your process, as far as, do you have a song concept? Do you put on
your producer’s hat and just begin making a beat? Q-Tip I mean, sometimes I have song concepts, if I get struck with something really,
really, you know, something really just resonates with me. I choose the
concept, but I tend to really, I guess the producer side of me, I tend to
really lean on the music, and then I think it’s a challenge for me to kind of
become a part of the music or become an instrument in it, you know what I
mean? But still kinda hold to the traits of, I guess, of MCing and lyricism
and all that, but I really try to let the music guide and dictate. Just
because I feel like we do so much talking and our literal voices are heard so
much, that the idea musically, that’s just like a different part of science
and nature to me that you can’t necessarily describe, and I’d like to kind of
let that thing that you may not have - that thing that just keeps involuting
and evolving. I like to go into that mysterious place so I like to let the
music guide what I do lyrically and all that. Jeff “Chairman” Mao When did you decide that producing was going to be your thing? Q-Tip I mean, I always was kinda into it like that. I started out DJing as a kid,
probably like around 11, 12. I started out MCing actually, but like 11, 12,
the DJing was hand-in-hand because it was the DJ was the king. And I would
make pause button tapes, which was a big thing for kids back in the ‘80s to do
like, if you had ideas for music because we didn’t have any setups, we didn’t
have any track machines. We didn’t have any of that stuff, so what we usually
had was some janky-ass stereo system that you moms and your grandmother had.
It was usually wood and you’d lift up the top, I don’t know if ya’ll remember
this, it’s almost as if you’d stick your hand like it was a pantry or
something and it was a turntable there and below it, it had like dual cassette
recorders and stuff. And I was lucky enough that mine’s that we had in the
house was a dub one. So, and my dad was a huge record collector and jazz
enthusiast and stuff. So I just started making pause tapes and stuff like that
because everybody was kinda doing’ that. You take a little piece, like let’s say this, for instance, I don’t know, pull up something on there, anything. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Anything? Q-Tip Anything. So I’ll show you... how many people know what a pause tape is? (music: Karen Young – “Hot Shot”) Q-Tip OK, so this is perfect. So, this is Karen Young, “Hot Shot,” right? So you take this part, like go back a little bit. (music jumps back) It’s literally so monotonous for you to get a good three or four minutes of music out of this piece right here, because you have to keep going back probably, say, like a hundred times, if you want like a bar or something, and you have to play it, rewind it, go back. So this is how I be, I be like this... [rewinds music
before the break] On the “Hot.” And I unpause it, I say, “OK, yeah, got it.”
[rewinds music before the break]. Then I go back and then I come right back here, and then I unpause it again, and then I pause it. [laughter] And I say, “OK, great,” you understand? (music fades) After a while of doing
those takes I was like, “Man, I gotta make something out of this mess. It’s
gotta like, open up. I must be, like, on some other shit, if I could sit here
for hours and hours and do this with these records and get these little pieces
and just continually loop it like that.” So I guess that’s when I knew I was gonna be a producer was probably around, the pause tape era, like 12. Jeff “Chairman” Mao And that was actually one of the first records you heard in a hip-hop context. Q-Tip What, the “Hot Shot”? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Yeah. Q-Tip My memory of “Hot Shot,” now that was like a big disco break back in the day. It was played at block parties a lot. And that little part right there, I don’t know if you guys heard it but the guy’s like, “Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot” [imitates music], and it was the drum break down, so DJs would cut that part back and forth. My mom would make my sister, who’s like six years older than
me, like, “Take your brother with you if you’re gonna go somewhere!” [laughter] So my sister would take me to the block parties. My sister would go uptown. She’d go to Harlem World. She’d go see, like, the Cold Crush [Brothers]],
she’d come back with tapes. Her best friend at the time was Sweet Tee, who did
“It’s My Beat,” and she used to spend a night at the crib, and they used to go
see, like, The Treacherous Three and all that shit and they’d come and go to
block parties. So my memory of that record, we went to a block party and
everybody was, like, doing The Freak, and I was just like, I saw all the teenagers had a Freak line, and all the little kids like me had a Freak line. [laughter] And the DJ was like, “Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot,” you know? I was just like,
“Ahhhhhhh!” It was crazy. Sorry, I digress. [laughter] He asked. Maybe I drink a Red Bull, I’d just go off. [laughter] Jeff “Chairman” Mao So, who was J Nice? Q-Tip [laughs] That was my MC name, J Nice. Yeah, that was me. Jeff “Chairman” Mao And was J Nice nice, or...? Q-Tip I was alright, you know? And the thing is like, you know how today, everybody
is like... well, a couple of years ago everybody was like “Lil’,” like Lil
Mama, Lil Kim, Lil Jon, Lil... you saw the “Lil” prefix on every record. And
then now it’s like “Young,” Young Berg, Young Jeezy, Young Lenny, Young... you
know what I mean? So back then, the thing was “Nice” or “Ski,” right? And
those things came out of, unfortunately, like a cocaine thing, you know what I
mean? ‘Cause once you get a freeze, and, you know you be nice, people in New York, you know, you get nice. You be like, “I’m niiiiiice.” [laughter] And that was kinda like how you would say, “I’m niiiiice.” I’m sorry guys. Kids, you can go, this is an adult thing. [laughter] And then “Ski” was like, you know, literally you ski’d up, like, you know what
I’m saying? So you’d here somebody like Jamalski or E Ski or Cool Ski Rock, or
something like that. The “Ski” and the “Nice’s” came from cocaine talk. Jeff “Chairman” Mao But I heard J Nice sounded like LL Cool J back in the day. Q-Tip I did, I did. Everybody sounded like LL. I mean, see, ‘cause, when I first
heard... Jeff “Chairman” Mao You come from Queens... Q-Tip I’m from Queens. But when I first heard, actually, Moe Dee with the
Treacherous Three, this record, the joint with Spoonie [Gee], “New Rap Language,”
you have it? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Let me see if I got it. Hold on a second. Q-Tip This style to me was like one that kind of influenced LL. It influenced T La Rock. We used to call it “intelligent rap,” because back then it used to be
like, “I got all the gusto and I’m on the go, we gonna rock to the beat in
stereo.” And Moe Dee was like, “I’m very, very, very, very and my favorite color’s cherry and, ery ery ery ery.” You know, he was just, the style was just crazy. (music: Spoonie Gee & The Treacherous Three – “New Rap Language”) Q-Tip It’s funny, because you know how Busta Rhymes has his record he did with Chris
Brown and he’s rhyming fast? Like, this is kind of the pre-cursor of that.
They used to call us the fast rap, intelligent rap, fast rap. (music continues) Right? And it’s just so clean. You know what I mean? Like, the
other cats we was around before was doing it, but Moe Dee’s shit was just
clean and he was saying shit, you know what I mean? And that influenced LL. And L was from around our way in Queens. I grew up in Jamaica, Queens, in St.
Albans. And they was like right over there in Hollis and then Run D.M.C. grew up
in my... well, I grew up in their neighborhood. It was Run D.M.C., LL Cool J,
Phife and I grew up over there. 50 Cent, Ja Rule, DJ Irv, Pepa from Salt ‘N’
Pepa was from over there. A lot of MCs from over there. But LL, kinda
resembled that style there. Jeff “Chairman” Mao All right, so. Q-Tip Sorry, guys. Jeff “Chairman” Mao How do we get to this? Q-Tip Oh. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Sorry. (music: Jungle Brothers – “The Promo” / applause) Q-Tip That’s the Jungle Brothers, that’s who I came up with. We all went to high
school together. So, you know, my neighborhood had all of these MCs and back
then in New York City you’d have to go to your zone high school. And my
neighborhood was pretty tough. And, my zone high school was Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Jackson, I remember that shit just always being on the news and was, besides Bishop Loughlin back then, one of the craziest high schools. I was like, “I am not going there.” I wound up going to Murry Bergtraum high
school, which was like a specialized high school. It was for business careers.
You had to get a recommendation to get in there, have like a B average and all
that shit. So, I managed to get in there and when I got there I went to freshman orientation and I first met Brother J, whose name is Jason Hunter. And for those of you who don’t know, Brother J was the lead MC of this crew called the X-Clan which was poppin’ back then. And I met him and then I
met Shazam who was Afrika from the Jungle
Brothers and Mike G who was also from the Jungle Brothers, I met him there. His uncle was Red Alert, famed New York DJ from the Zulu Nation. And I met Ali in Bergtraum as well, it was just a lot of MCs up there. And we did this in high school too, we did “The Promo,” that was the first record. Afrika and I produced that record together. And
this was like the first... what year was this? Jeff “Chairman” Mao ‘88. Q-Tip Yeah, ‘88, right? ‘87 I think, around there. It was the first record I did. I was 17. Jeff “Chairman” Mao You had equipment at that point? Or you were going to...? Q-Tip When I met up with Ali, Ali’s uncle worked for Columbia Records as a promotion guy. He also played bass. He was the cool uncle or whatever, he smoked Kool’s and shit. You know, he had like the crazy Columbia jacket that he wore all the time, even in the summer. It just said Columbia and we were
like “Ah! Wow!” And he’d bring home like Public Enemy records and all that
shit and bring home like whatever Columbia swag he had. He also had a 4-track machine ‘cause he played bass. So I would take my pause tapes over there and I would start messing with the 4-track machine, Ali and I. When I first got over there, probably like ‘85, I was 15. And the first two records I brought over there was this record called, “Ripe” and “Bonita Applebum,” and I was 15. So that’s how I first started doing, like, formal joints and that’s what I was
working on. Jeff “Chairman” Mao You mentioned the Zulu Nation briefly. It’s been something that you’re affiliated with over the years, and just to sort of quickly get us up to date, you actually have a new album coming out, which is titled The Last Zulu. And I just wondered, given that this is a thread throughout a lot of your career,
if you want to just speak to it since we’re kind of at the inception right here. Q-Tip Well, the Zulu Nation, Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation, it came out of, you know, a gang lord in New York, they used to be The Black Spades, and he was one of the
warlords there and he had some epiphany that killing each other wasn’t the
way. Back then the gangs used to have dancers, they used to have your color,
but then a crew would also have their dancers and they were called b-boys and
if there was a rumble, the dancers would come out and do dances that kind of
symbolized which gang it was before they got down. And you know Bam just was like, “Nah, we can’t do this.” So he was a big fan of that movie Shaka Zulu and he turned the whole thing into the Zulu Nation. His motto is, “Peace, unity, love and having fun,” and everything, all kind of music was at your
arsenal. Fab Five Freddy brought Bam downtown, the Zulu Nation crew was the
first one to come downtown, they played CBGBs. And Bam even got cool with
Arthur Baker and Blondie, and Malcolm
McLaren that used to run in them kind of circles. And his thing was always
worldwide, and I appreciated that vision, you know what I’m saying? The new
record that I’m working on, I felt like, you know sometimes I mill about and I
kick stuff around like, “It’s not like it used to be.” And I get like all
curmudgeon about it and I put myself in it and become kind of vulnerable, and
self-effacing and honest, kind of like if you listen to like Dark Side Of The
Moon by [Pink] Floyd, you feel like the character or that guy just dealt with
like being, you know, insubordination, depression and being in poverty,
questioning the reason of life. You know what I’m saying? I just feel like,
where we’re at, the state of the world, the state of things, it was a very
introspective record. And that I just felt like I’m at the point where I
wanted to make something that’s kind of like that because I feel like a lot of people kinda toil with those premises. Yeah. Jeff “Chairman” Mao So, what does The Last Zulu mean to you? Q-Tip You know, one of the last people who feel like, “Am I the last person to think
that there’s nothing wrong with kind of having a private life and holding to
secrets? Does everything have to be available, like the reality TV shit? Am I
one of the last people to really believe that having some sort of talent at
something really can get you currency in this world, or do you have to kind of
be a buffoon or some sort of vixen to make it?” Like, just holding to those kind
of principles and questioning them. Not saying that they’re right or wrong,
but just posing that question because I feel like a lot of us in this room
kind of ask those questions as well. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Yeah. I want to talk about Tribe. Q-Tip Yeah, yeah. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Musically, and if I’m skipping moments in your career it’s only because that
stuff is readily available for people to learn about, but... Q-Tip Am I being boring, guys? Am I OK? [laughter] OK. Just let me know. I’ll pump it up a little bit. Jeff “Chairman” Mao What was the thought process going into the first Tribe album? Because it was such a different sound for hip-hop at the time. Q-Tip Yeah. I guess the thought process was, I always wanted to make something as
close to like The Beatles, or Earth, Wind & Fire, or Sly [Stone] as
possible for hip-hop. You know what I mean? I felt like that that first album
is kinda representative of that kind of energy. And to really not purposefully
try to fit into something. Just be yourself. You know what I mean? And just, you know, be open. I think that first album was about those things, really. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I mean, there’s definitely a structure to it. It’s all sort of, interconnected
by this recurring interlude. Q-Tip Yeah, with Jarobi. Jeff “Chairman” Mao It’s all very kinda dreamy and hypnotic. There’s also, I feel from listening
to it now, there’s a mellow side to it, of course. You know, there’s a lot of sort of, electric jazz grooves, but there’s also a sense of dynamics involved in it that I still feel is really unique for hip-hop. There’s really quiet passages where things sort of disappear and then they come back. Q-Tip I mean, my dad was a huge jazz guy. He was like a huge hard bop guy. Like Art
Blakey, he loved Miles [Davis], of course, Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis. Like, he was just
like on that end. You know, I could just remember as a kid hearing that stuff
and then hearing space in it. And it wasn’t until around that time I was making an album that I think I was reading a Miles Davis interview and he was talking about the musicality of space and how space is used. And I felt like at that moment, you know, we were still figuring out ourselves. We were still like young fawns and stumbling a little, but it was a lot of frenetic
stuff that was happening. I was just like, “Man, let’s just dig,” and you
know, it’s what’s between the notes that makes us stick out. When I first did
“Bonita [Applebum],” it was a straight rhyme and then I came back to it maybe
like a few months later and I just kinda broke it down like a conversation. I
just started thinking about space like that, you know what I mean? It was there within me, but then the Miles, after hearing what he said about it it became more defined, like “Aha,” you know what I mean? Jeff “Chairman” Mao So space not only in an arrangement, in a beat, but vocally as well. Q-Tip Yeah, definitely. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I mean, this is not one of the better known tracks off this album necessarily. (music: A Tribe Called Quest – “Youthful
Expression” excerpt) Jeff “Chairman” Mao There’s no rhyming on this part though. (music fades out and comes back in) Q-Tip And I remember when we brought it back in I was just turning the 808 up louder, and Shane, the guy who mixed this record, was like, “What are you doing?” I was like, “I just wish that something would just happen more, just turn the 808 up then!” [laughs] I remember us having that conversation about
that. Jeff “Chairman” Mao What did you hear as far as reaction to this? Q-Tip With that? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Yeah, just in terms of this album and its whole, sort of, energy. Q-Tip Well, the reaction was pretty good and it caught people off guard. I felt good
‘cause as a kid I’d be in the streets and I’d hear it come out of people’s
cars ‘cause that’s how everybody was moving or whatever. You’d hear coming out of people’s radios, you’d hear the album. The radio stations started playing it. Then we needed to go and travel abroad and you see that it was happening kind of all over so it was just a great feeling, you know what I mean? And, for people to kind of get certain things like that, like what you just played,
those kind of subtleties. Like, what I was trying to play too with was just dynamics, which is still a thing with me with music. I feel like, today’s music is so, like... [hums a rave-type build up with a big break beat at the end] [laughter] You know what I mean? It’s nothing wrong with that. If that’s your bag and
that’s the party, it’s cool. But it’s like dynamics to me, is just my personal thing. And it depends on what it is, really. It’s really subjective but I just feel for me, I like dynamics because if it’s done in a honest way and if it’s done within the integrity of the musical scope that you have laid out, and you’re dealing with dynamics and you’re dealing with mood and if it all
connects it, it makes it so much more potent. So I’m still having a great joust with my friend dynamics. [laughs] Jeff “Chairman” Mao Low End Theory, totally different. Q-Tip Yeah, totally. Jeff “Chairman” Mao And obviously made a very big impact. What was the mindset, going into that? Q-Tip It was Dre, it was when I heard Straight Outta Compton. I was just like, “Wow!” And I remember driving with Ali, I was like, “Yo, we gotta make some shit like this.” Like, to hear that shit? And we were kind of
like one of the few people riding around New York listening to that, like loud, [sings] ”Straight outta Compton.” You know what I mean? All that shit. It was just like, the energy of it, and they were dealing with dynamics as well and it was frenetic but Dre is such a master the way that it was laid
out. He took what PE was kind of doing but he got to that whole Bomb Squad mentality a little bit before. And, the tapestry that he laid out for those things, it was
just, still to this day, I just get chills. And I say this in a great way, but
after you hear all the frills, the musical frills of that album, the sections
and the rhymes, the interplay between the MCs, between [Ice] Cube and Eazy and the
scratches, after you hear all of that when it’s off what resonated was just
that bottom, that bass and the drive of it. I was like, “Yo, we got like some
shit, B, but still maintain our thing,” you know? So that was a big
contributing factor. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Do you remember the first songs off of that album that you made, coming off that inspiration? Q-Tip And I wish I would’ve brought it, yeah. The first thing I remember making was this record “Mr. Incognito” and “Excursions,” ‘cause they kinda had the same drum beat. Those were the first things I was messing with. Yeah, and just the
energy it had, and I just remember specifically for “Excursions” I was just
like... Do you have that? Actually, do you have the Art Blakey joint? Is there
wi-fi in here? Jeff “Chairman” Mao [searches in laptop] Let me check. Q-Tip Can I get on Spotify in here? Jeff “Chairman” Mao [laughs] You can. Q-Tip See if I have this. Yes. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I’m sure this is great for everybody to watch. It’s just looking at our
computers but… [laughs] Q-Tip Because the other thing that was happening... Jeff “Chairman” Mao I don’t have the Art Blakey joint on me right now. Q-Tip Oh no? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Hold on, I got it. [laughs] (music: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – “A Chant For Bu”) Q-Tip Now, if you listen to the time and signature on there... [(music continues)]
7/8, you know? And during Low End Theory, what I was thinking about there as
a producer was because of the pause tapes and me like having to do that whole
process that whole dance, I started thinking about chops and catching things that are in an odd meter and putting them in the 4/4. So again, this is like a 7/8 thing but “Excursions,” the bassline is like [imitates] very waltz-y, 3/4, or whatever. (music: A Tribe Called Quest –
“Excursions”) Q-Tip The other thing about that too is just like the drops. Like, I drop stuff out,
because again, it was just me dueling with dynamics. That should be a band name, Dueling with Dynamics. Jeff “Chairman” Mao [laughs] A new side project. Q-Tip During that whole Low End Theory thing I was just catching pieces and just
making it malleable and just stretching and contorting, you know what I mean? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Engineering-wise, Bob Power really stepped up and became a little bit more instrumental on what was going on, at least that’s what we hear. And what was really going on in the
studio with you guys, to try to really get this low end for Low End Theory? Q-Tip When I first met Bob, we were at this place called Calliope Studio. It was at
37th Street, still a pretty seedy area, but was even more back then, but I met
him there. He was doing jingles at the back of the room and he would occasionally engineer. And everybody was rocking with this one guy named Shane and this other girl named Sue. And that was like the place where we were all cutting stuff. I remember the Jungle Brothers, I was in a session with them. They couldn’t get Shane, so they had Bob coming in sub for him. And Afrika was
the one to rap and whatever and he messed up. And Bob is going to tell, “OK,
you want to try another one?” And he is like, “OK, hold this, stand clear,
hold on.” And Afrika will be laughing on, as nobody had ever seen an engineer
like that. Like, “Who is this dude, man? Fucking clown.” Right? And so,
basically he was and Bob would say, “OK guys, do you want to do another one? I
think it sounds good. It seems like it hit the tape pretty good. Would you
guys want to do another one?” He was very clean and economical. I was peepin’
him. So then, I was like, “What’s your name?” “Hi, I’m Bob.” And I was like,
“Do you like, you just work?” “You know, I just do jingles and stuff. And sometimes I sit with the guys, yeah. OK, see you later.” And so then, I went into the front room and at Calliope they had hanging all the records, their discography. And one of the records was Stetsasonic. And then with Stetsasonic was De La [Soul], because De La was cutting in there as well. And one of my
favorite Stetsasonic records is “Go Stetsa.” I looked on it and I was like, “Damn, I love that record.” I was talking to the guy, I said, “That shit was the shit.” And so then, about a week or so passed and I came back in and I was asking for something in the office. And I looked back up again. I said, “Yo, y’all mixed that record up in here?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “Who mixed it?”
He said, “Bob Power.” I said, “Word?” I said, “I need him on all my sessions.”
And then this is how it started with he and I. I would tell him - because I didn’t really have the articulation - so I would tell him what I wanted and stuff
like that. And he was like, “OK, OK. That sounds a little bit out of bounds, but I would see what I could do.” But he would always like nestle in his opinion. [laughs] He would always go in sweet. You know, we were fucking 18-, 19-years-
old, you know? But he made it happen. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I mean, the debate is always between Low End Theory and Midnight
Marauders. Sonically, how do you compare the two? Because they both had this
impact. There was a lecture with Bob Power at the Academy several years ago where he talks about how with Midnight Marauders it was meant to be grittier, conceptually. And he felt that in a way he messed that up because it sounds more state-of-the-art in a lot of ways. Q-Tip I don’t think that was the case. I think Midnight Marauders was meant to
have the sheen that it has. I thought that it was meant, if anything, to be
boomier. In a tradition of Low End, but it was always meant to have a nice
sheen to that record. If you listen to Low End Theory, like a lot of that
sizzle, all that 15k stuff, like 8k stuff for all engineers here, it’s really
hard to hear it. Maybe when it is remastered, when you listen to the original,
like a lot of that top is muddled. We did a lot of that record on a Neve, on what everybody calls the John Lennon Neve, because they had that in Battery [Studios], we did a lot of Low End Theory on that. But when we got to Midnight Marauders we were on the SSL, and it had a little bit more sizzle up there. So it just has the top, it just has a little bit more sheen. Jeff “Chairman” Mao The drums are louder too. Q-Tip Yeah the drums are louder, yeah. [laughs] Which is good. Jeff “Chairman” Mao When you sit back and listen to these two, can you compare them? Do you, do you have a favorite? Q-Tip It’s like a kid. Do people who have kids have favorites? Anybody? Oh boy. [laughter] No, I guess they’re their own thing, you know what I mean? They’re their own thing. There’s definitely, of course, similarities but I don’t know, it’s hard
to say. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Bob also did mention something about underlying those snares, these kicks with
extra sounds, do you remember that in the studio? Q-Tip Yeah, I would double up on all that shit. I would have two and three kicks like “bow,” like snares mashed up, it depends. I would like to stack things like that just to give it more [impact]. It’s just about frequencies, you know? Like a certain snare can have, like we were talking about, that sizzle but then a certain snare could have more like a mid thing or low-mid thing and
has a certain characteristic, you know? It would call for whatever the music was like it’s all working together, you know what I mean? Jeff “Chairman” Mao At this point in your career in the mid-’90s, you were doing quite a bit of
outside production as well away from Tribe on pretty important projects. When
you produced “One Love” for Nas’ Illmatic did you have any sort of idea what kind of impact that album was going to make? Q-Tip Yeah, Nas was just like, you automatically knew. Like, when Large Professor
first played it for me, I mean, well, I heard him on the “[Live At The] BBQ,”
but then Large played me his shit, I was like, “Cool, this dude is crazy,” you
know what I’m saying? So I knew it was gonna be the impact it was. Then, when
I started hearing the records, I remember
[DJ] Premier, he may kill me for this, and Nas may kill me for this too, but I got to let y’all hear this shit. [looks in his laptop] Because I argue with these guys all the time about this. Well, I don’t, I don’t argue with them but I be like to Nas
and Prem like, “Yo, y’all got to put this fuckin’ version of fuckin’...” Hold
on one second. But when I started hearing it, I was like, “This is special,”
but when I heard this record that Prem did I was like, “OK, I got to give him something like on that like really eerie shit,” ‘cause this shit was very eerie. What was it? [humming] You got to bear with me, guys. It’s just a ill record, you’ll know when you guys hear it. I’ve got a lot of Nas in my Serato. It’s his first version of “Memory Lane” that Premier did, and it’s kinda
inspired me for the “One Love” thing, I’m just gonna play a little bit of it. Jeff “Chairman” Mao OK. (music: Nas – “Memory Lane” Demo) Q-Tip I love Prem. ‘Cause that was the first version of “Memory Lane” on the album
so when I heard it I was like, “Oh shit!” Then I heard Paul’s shit, I was like, “I got to give this dude some shit.” So he came out by the crib, at this time I had a little set-up in Phife’s crib in the basement. So he came through, him and Akinyele, and Large, you know? We blew a little somethin’. It was summer and whatever and I said, “So how are you trying to approach it?”
And he was like, “Oh my God, you know what I’m saying? I’m just trying to get
that shit, that shit you be fucking with, God, you know what I’m saying?” Very
Nas, you know, jazz man type shit. I was like, “Man,” and you know, I just
started fucking with him, like, right there and it was just instant. He was
like “Ah, man. Yeah, let’s go with that.” Then when we had the session and we
was in Battery, we recorded in Battery, he brought his book in and he started
spitting that shit in the room first for everybody. There must have been like
ten of us in there and the room was silent and the speakers was rocking and he
was just like, “Ah!” Just spitting that shit over that shit and I was like, “Man!” It was crazy. I hadn’t really finessed the drums yet, but he laid the rhymes and I pumped the drums up and it was just right. It was one of those perfect sessions. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Was it the plan all along for you to do the chorus? Q-Tip He was like, “Nah, I need you somehow on this, God. Just do the chorus, man.”
You know, that was his thing. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I wanna ask you about this ‘cause I wanna try and get a little bit of everything in. You did some work on another album by a Queens group. Went a little something like this. (music: Mobb Deep – “Give Up The Goods (Just Step)” / applause) Jeff “Chairman” Mao That, of course, is Mobb Deep, from the album The Infamous. Now, you came in on this project kind of as the mixer, fixer in a way. Q-Tip Yeah, shout outs to Matty C and Schott Free over at Loud of records that hit
me up. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I mentioned this because it’s such an iconic New York record, and I don’t know if everyone realizes this that you had a role in this to the degree that you
did. Q-Tip Yeah, yeah. They called me up and they was like, “You know, we really want you
to work with Mobb, they fuck with you.” And Schott was my man and Matty was my
man, so we met up and put us in the lab. I met with Havoc and I knew them
from before and at that time they had “Shook Ones, Part I” out. And I think
they just could have released “Shook Ones, Part II,” the one that really blew.
But I remember hearing “Part I” like, “Ooh, this shit is mean.” So it was like
right in between there so I went in the studio with them and they played me
some of the ideas and they were saying that they just wanted me to do some
additional production and mix and produce joints and just really bump it up
and put some structure in it. One of my favorite tracks off of it was “Trife
Life,” just the sound of it. I was really experimenting, there was an engineer there, but he didn’t really give a fuck, you know what I’m saying? ‘Cause their lifestyle, they had guns in the studio and drinking and they arguing, man. Fights, shooting dice, it was all of that. So the engineers was,
like, “Oh, fuck!” [laughter] “I don’t think I can handle…” You know what I mean? So, I had to kind of speak the language with the engineer and then be like, “Well, actually, we have to be able to bounce this and make sure there’s a...” “Nah, my nigga we’re gonna be good, my nigga,” you know what I’m saying? And then I had to kind of negotiate between... [laughter] So the engineer, his treads on his tires kind of wore out a little bit on
that. You know what I am saying? It was really the first album that I really
mixed. And I remember very young Duro, Ken Duro Ifill, is a famous engineer, he was
interning for me on that thing, on that album. You know, I remember like, that
was one that I really had a lot on mixing on and Havoc is just an amazing
talent. Like, when he brought those songs in and I heard ‘em, I was like,
“Wow!” And he be like, “Yo, son. Yo, son, yo! Check this shit out, son!” And
he’d play it for me. “Yo, son, yo, just... Please, son, could you just, just
put that shit, you know what I’m saying? Move that shit, move, move the drums
this way. Put your shit on it. You see what I’m saying? We, we, we, spit the rhymes. You know what I’m saying? But just move that shit a little bit more like, on your side, son.” [laughs] I’m like “Aight, Aight.” To the engineer, “OK. He wants me to do...” [laughter] So, you know, it was just a lot of that negotiation going on there. But it was
just a great learning experience for me in terms of mixing and engineering. You know, the Nas thing was one thing, but their shit was like steeped in gangsta rap, you know what I’m saying? So, nobody really thought that I brought it out. And I remember saying, “Yo, I want you guys to bring... like – the thing that’s gonna make the dark records stand out more is that if you
interject a little bit more like, major chord shit in there, like happier shit
in there, and then y’all put the minor vibe on top of that.” And they kinda got it. They were really astute musically too and had great [understanding]. Prodigy was like, the rhymes he was coming in with then was just so ill. You know what I mean? So I mixed probably like about five, six records on there and produced about three others. Something like that. And I did additional production on a couple of things. So it was just great. And to see that album
have the accolades that it has and how, you know, steeped in celebration that
shit is is great. Jeff “Chairman” Mao What did you learn when you first heard J Dilla and his music? Q-Tip Well, when I first heard J Dilla I was on tour. I was on the Lollapalooza tour
in ‘94. And it was with the Smashing Pumpkins, and I think Kurt [Cobain] had just
passed. Kurt passed and then we started to tour. And I remember, Beasties was
out with us, and Funkadelic and Porno For Pyros. Is that Perry Farrell’s?
Yeah, and L7. It turned out being a dope tour. So we started on the tour and
this brother with a crazy big afro came by and it was Amp Fiddler. He was
playing keyboards for Funkadelic and he was just like, “Yo. It was a pleasure
meeting you. I got this kid I really want you to hear. You gonna love him! He
loves you. He looks up to you so much. I want you to meet him when we get to
Detroit.” It’s like “Aight.” We had, like, 12 cities to get to Detroit, and
each day, he would still come and say the same thing to you. [laughter] Like, “Yo, man. Detroit’s coming up, man!” So we finally get there and we perform, or whatever. And then he was like, “Yo, you ready? We’ll meet him.” I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I’m on the tour bus, we just got off, whatever, and then he comes on. I remember Dilla had on some glasses. He came on smiling. The first thing I saw was a smile. It was like, “Oh, man. Oh, man...”
I was like, “What’s up, man?” And he gave me his tape personally and we were
doing secondary shows in certain markets with De La. I started listening to it
in the back. I had my whole set-up in the back of the bus and we’re driving
off to the next city. And at night I was listening to it and I was like, “Ahh,
what the fuck is this shit?” It was the Slum Village demo and I was like,
“Damn, this shit is crushin’.” And then I looked around to see if anyone was
around and I was like, “This shit’s ill.” So then we got to the next city, we had a show with De La. So me and Plug 2, we was blowin’ or something, I was like, “Yo, come here, man.” I took him to the bus and shit. And I said, “Yo, listen to this shit,” and played it. You know, Dave had this tooth that was
missing and he was always laughing he used to cover his shit like this [holds hand to mouth]. [laughter] So we listening to it and was like, “Oh shit!” [more laughter] And he was the first person that I played Dilla’s shit for. I was like, “Yo,
this dude is ill, right?” He said, “Uhh, yeah!” He’s like, “Yo, he sounds like
your shit but just... better.” [laughs] And I was like, “OK, thanks.” But I
was like, “Yo, man. I gotta do something with this kid, bring him out. People
need to hear this shit.” Then slowly but surely I started playing it for
people and then I called his house because he had his number on there. I was
like, “Yo, man. People gotta hear your shit, somehow we gotta figure something
out. We gotta work, man.” And we started to put together the Ummah ‘cause I
played it for D’Angelo. So the Ummah was supposed to be D’Angelo, myself, Ali,
Raphael Saadiq, and Dilla. And at the time the Trackmasters was out pumping, you know? Of course, you had the Bomb Squad. You had different production crews that consisted of three or four men teams. So I was thinking this could be like our version of that, you know what I mean? Like, all of the Tribe Called Quest albums, especially the first
three, I was always about the unit. So I never put on those on Low End
Theory ”produced by Q-Tip,” or you know what I mean, because it wasn’t about
that. It was about the Tribe, so I put “produced by Tribe Called Quest,” you
know what I’m sayin’? And that was kind of the aesthetic that I had for the
Ummah, like the unit, you know what I mean? Jeff “Chairman” Mao What was it specifically that you heard that he was doing at the time on that
tape that was so revolutionary to you? Q-Tip The way he had shit EQed, the way that it was programmed, the feeling of it
was the most authentic feeling. He was programming it, but it just felt live.
The swing of it, you know, his time signature on that, the way that he had the
swing percentages on his beats and shit. Like, the way he had the music
partitioned. He had bass where it needed to be, the kick was where it needed
to be, the hi-hat was where it was needed. He was just clean. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Yeah. Q-Tip You know what I mean? But still he had an understanding of it that he could
manipulate it any way that he wanted to, you know what I mean? Jeff “Chairman” Mao So when you formed the Ummah then, and you started working on the Tribe albums
and stuff like that, how was that process like? Q-Tip You know, his process... Jeff “Chairman” Mao How was it divvied up in a way, I guess? Q-Tip I was just bringing into the guys and they were saying what they liked and all
that stuff. And for a while he was an introvert with people he didn’t really
know. He would just send me the beats and then I would lay them. He wouldn’t
really mix them. He could mix though, he was totally capable, but sometimes he
didn’t feel like coming to New York or something like that, so he’d say, “Nah,
go ahead,” you know? And that’s usually how you know they wound up like that.
You know, Phife and Ali they would say, “Oh, this is good,” and whatever, you
know what I mean? So it was like we all would by committee decide which ones
on whose albums would go. And I would play stuff for De La and then
eventually, De La had their own relationship with him. Pharcyde, I played shit
for Pharcyde, that’s how they knew it, Busta [Rhymes]. I remember Common was at my
house and that’s how he met Dilla, ‘cause Dilla was staying at the crib so I
told Common to come through and then that’s how he met him, you know? Jeff “Chairman” Mao So then, how often did he come to New York to work with you guys, in the
studio? Q-Tip There was a period where he stayed at the crib, you know what I mean? I don’t
know, I want to say he was going back and forth within a year’s time period,
but probably stayed in New York for like three months at a time, two months at
a time, but, back and forth. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I’m curious to know, and I guess I’m talking about The Love Movement as
well here, is there a pronounced Slum influence on those albums, in terms of
composition? Not only in terms of his production? Q-Tip Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, because if you listen to the choruses, like “Fantastic,” you know, sometimes the Tribe choruses would have those same kind of rhythms or those same kind of [approach]. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Same rhythmic sort of [approach]. Q-Tip Yeah, we would have the same kind of approach to some of that stuff as well,
yeah. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I mean, in retrospect, do you think that was a good fit, or do you think... Q-Tip I do. You know, people tend to say that Beats, Rhymes, and
Life or Love Movement was like, weak, and all of that stuff... I dig it. I mean, I
still listen back to some of it and, like, it’s not wack shit, you know what I
mean? Sorry, that’s just me, like, I don’t think Dilla can ever be wack. It
was just different for people. It was hard for them to swallow within the Tribe thing, but I think those records are still strong, to me. Jeff “Chairman” Mao How do you think that you influenced him? I mean, he was someone that looked up to you. We can sit here and say, “OK. He came in and created a different sound for Tribe, and you can see that influence.” And obviously, people are talking about his influence on production. Questlove was here a few
days ago, and talked about his drumming, you know, the influence of him. But
how do you think you influenced him? Q-Tip I don’t know, you know, he always told me that. I would say the similarities
would be in choices and decisions we would make. Like, not only in type of
music, because we would do beats and pull similar shit, you know what I’m
saying? Gosh, I wish sometimes I would have recorded a video of some of that
shit that we was doin’. But, you know, we just had kinda similar taste and
hear things kinda in the same way. His hearing though, his shit, his hearing
was like some underwater subterranean shit. He would hear the fuckin’ burping
of a baby whale like 4,000 miles away. Like, burp...”Yo, you heard that?” He
had that kind of keen, shit, you know what I mean? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Yeah, what was Buddy Lee? Q-Tip Buddy Lee was the project that he and I were gonna do. He had done Donuts a while ago, like that whole thing, before he passed. And then one of the last things when he was well that spoke to him. Like, “Hey, we gotta do this Buddy Lee album.” And that was like, he and I finally doing an album together, like
the two of us rhyming and doing the whole album. Unfortunately, that didn’t
happen, but that was the plan. And that was like right after he finished doing
those beats on the Donuts thing. Jeff “Chairman” Mao I’m curious what you make of this whole cult of Dilla. Obviously, you were close with him and you worked with him in Tribe, and years and years after. It’s kinda this legendary status that some people have mixed feelings about in some ways. Q-Tip Really? How? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Well, I don’t know. If it’s become more of a trendy thing rather than based on people who are genuinely fans of his music. I just wondered if you had any
feelings on that? Q-Tip I guess that that’s the case. That’s the time we’re in, you know? It’s
important to give people the flowers while they’re here, you know what I mean?
Somebody said one time – it was horrible, I thought, but it still struck me. I
think the subject they were talking about, like either Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix – they said it’s sexy or sexier when you die famous. Or something to
that shit. But it kinda spoke to me, something that’s real in a way. You know
what I mean? I think with him, I’m all for anything that’s going to help
people discover his music and discover his greatness, but truly discover it.
Don’t just wear the shirt, and every February go to every Dilla event and
Instagram it and act like you know what it is. And, you know, say shit like,
“You can tell I’m a real Dilla fan because I hate Q-Tip,” or something. I
don’t know. [laughs] Just get into the music and let that serve you and
guide you. So if it brings people to him, I’m all for it, as long as people go
all the way with him because that’s probably what he would have wanted. Jeff “Chairman” Mao What are your memories of working with him on Amplified? You guys
pretty much worked on all everything together. Q-Tip Yeah, that was fun. That was a lot of fun. Even after I did “Vivrant Thing,”
he was like calling me like, “Yo! You wanna play?” [laughs] And we just kept
volleying. He was just bringing that shit. It was fun. That’s probably the most fun we had. Because after that point it was no more in Ummah, there was no more Slum Village. I think he was fucking with Madlib then. He was doing his thing, I was doing my thing. After that was just like, we were doing
music. Jeff “Chairman” Mao For you, coming off the whole Tribe legacy, what was your whole philosophy
going into doing that? You know, that was your first solo endeavor. Q-Tip Doing Amplified? It was definitely a little jarring because it wasn’t the
same situation, set-up or scenario as it was for so many years with Tribe. So
I didn’t really know what to do. So I just tried to focus on starting at zero
and just kinda not being the conscious rapper or being any of those stigmas
attached. The backpack, whatever people called me, the Native [Tongues],
whatever, I just wanted to step away, because we built something pretty hefty
that influenced so many people. I was just like, “Let that be there and start
something else.” Jeff “Chairman” Mao The funny thing is when I look up online or something like that, the way people contextualize things, especially that album, it’s kinda thought of - at the time - as the “flashy” album. And then I go back and listen to some of it and it seems like a continuation of what you were doing. I wonder how you felt about that kinda feedback from people at the time? If you encountered it at
the time? Q-Tip I thought it was a bit uninformed at the time because people just gravitated
towards the image of the videos of “Vivrant
Thing” and “Breathe And Stop,” so
they didn’t really get the whole thing, like things we do. Like “Do It, Be It,
See It,” you know what I mean? Like, they didn’t really delve in, they just
judged the cover, you know what I mean? So, you know, it’s par for the course. It’s show business, you take your lumps, you know? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Did you feel after that album that you were restricted in some way with where
hip-hop was? Because you actually went quite experimental with the next project, with the Kamaal/The Abstract album. Q-Tip Yeah, yeah, I kind of did, I just went totally. Because I think what I was
feeling at that time was when I got to Arista, Clive Davis signed me over there, we did the Amplified album. And, I remember talking to him when I was doing the Amplified album and I was saying to him, “Yo, I want to put together a band. I don’t think anybody’s doing it but not like
just a band band but I like I want to do Bitches Brew-type thing.”
And I remember he and I having hours and hours of conversation, Clive Davis
and I, about that. He was like, “Wow, this would be great.” You know, he
really dug it. So then I started, going out to jazz clubs. Like, I kind of
grew a beard. [laughter] I started eating fucking vegan food and shit.[laughs] [more laughter] I was like, “Fuck everything! I’m gonna do this band! You can keep your girls
and your cars and your money.” So I kind of just went off the grid for awhile.
And a dear friend, Weldon Irvine, who was from around the way, he was one of my
mentors. He and I would talk about music for hours, and we would talk about
theory, I started taking up piano and music theory. I started learning music.
After Amplified, I just wanted to continue to bring the odometer back. And I
kind of just took a couple of years off. Not really, I was working, but I was
just developing another side. And it was humbling and it was great and I just
started, little by little, meeting different musicians and going to jams and
hanging out ‘till three in the morning. Doing it in the city, going to Philly,
going to DC, like just moving around and just seeing different people and
different musicians and vibing. I bought pianos and guitars and all sort of
keys and just really got into it. And also around the time of Amplified,
right around that time I had a fire and had about maybe close to 20,000
records, I had all the shit I worked on with Dilla, like all Tribe, like crazy
shit and I lost everything. And I was in the house. Everything was just gone.
It was just an interesting time for me in that period. It was crazy because it
was in the news a little bit and Jay Leno was making jokes about the shit and
all this crazy shit and I was like, “Damn!” And I was driving down Lafayette,
I was with my girl, ‘cause I had to stay at a hotel for a little while. So I was going to the hotel and I saw KRS and he was like, [imitates KRS] ”Yo!” [laughter] You know, and very KRS if you guys are like down with KRS One from Boogie Down
productions. “Yo! I heard you had a fire.” [laughter] I mean, I still smelt, you could still smelt - the embers was burning on my
fucking shoulders and shit like while he’s talking to me I’m still smoldering.
I got like black spots on my face and shit. My girl is angry at me, sitting
next to me and shit, we all smell smokey and shit. I’m like, “Yeah, Kris, we
had a fire, man.” “Ah, man. But, but that’s good! Fire is cleansing!” [laughter] And I was just like, hmmm. Your first reaction is like, “I know you’re a
legend, but please.” But then contemplate on that simple little thing. I remember we just said something, “You all right?” And “dadda dadda dadda” and he just darted off into the city, you know? That whole process was a cleansing thing for me. Between that fire, and talking to Weldon, and learning theory,
and taking up piano, and I studied drums with Omar Hakim, and doing all that
stuff, and talking to Clive Davis about it, I just really thought that I
started to understand the music I used to do, and the music I wanted to do. Jeff “Chairman” Mao What level of musicianship would you categorize yourself at at this point? Q-Tip Kindergarten or pre-school. [laughs] Nah, but I’m alright. I know the language, I can move around and stuff. But it just really opened me up, like crazy. Jeff “Chairman” Mao And on The Renaissance, you do incorporate quite a bit of live music with what you’re
doing as well, right? Q-Tip Yeah, definitely. On The Renaissance I have Robert Glasper, who was playing
with me for a little bit. My boy Mark Hahnenberg. I had Josh David was playing
the bass. I had, Chris Sholar, Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar. I had those cats,
those are my cats. Louis Cato, and Ray Angry sometimes. Those are like my guys
I vibe with. My core band I’ve been working with for probably like 12 years. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Since Amplified, to date, you’ve had officially three albums out. That’s 11
years or so, right? Not always by your choice, but is there some benefit to
that? Some benefit to having this kind of gestation period creatively to work
on things. Q-Tip Yeah, I guess so, but I’m going to step it up a little more. I don’t have much
time left on this planet, you know what I’m saying? It’s not promised, so, I’m
striving to keep it a little bit more frequent. But yeah, there’s benefits to
it, of course. And there’s also bad things to it. But when you’re an artist
you’ve just got to kind of keep to that environment and kinda just navigate,
you know what I mean? It’s humbling. Terribly humbling having those periods
like that. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Was there anything you wanted to play? I know before we started you had a
couple things you maybe wanted to play? Q-Tip Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Well, speaking of The Renaissance, I know people
talk about production and stuff like that. I think a producer is a couple of things, to me. But one thing that a producer really is is that you have to maintain your environment. You have to make sure whoever you’re working with, that their visions, their music, their aspirations are met, and it’s not really about you. Now, if there’s a connection and they come to you for a
certain thing, obviously you give because it’s a service business. And there’s
a difference between producers and beatmakers. I think that’s a thing that
should be discussed more. Anybody can do dope beats and you rhyme over them
and it’s like, yeah, OK, but a producer will do more to challenge you and what
you’re saying, really guide you through your peformance on the song. In hip-hop there’s not many true producers and I learned that, you know what I mean? It’s just something that you continue to learn, you know? And I’ve had people
ask me about my process sometimes, and I brought a couple of things. One thing
from The Renaissance, I don’t know if you guys have heard that album, if you
have, are familiar with it. Well, you guys know that song “Life Is Better”
that I did with Norah Jones? Anybody? Familiar. Kinda, yeah. Alright, well I’m
going to play you, like how things kinda started, and then play the final
product. So “Life is Better” was initially, I had this loop from this Issac
Hayes record. (music: Isaac Hayes loop) You know, it’s like an old school Isaac Hayes joint, right? (music continues
in background) So, I just always loved these horns right here, hold up, hold
up. (music continues) This is the start of “Life is Better” for me, with
these horns. Like, I just love that, like, that whole little melodic construct
right there. So, that was the beginning of “Life Is Better.” So I had that
rocking for awhile. So, then I just sat down at the keyboard, and I was just
figuring out the key it was in, and just putting some harmony behind it. So, I
came up with these couple of harmonies. And Robert Glasper came by, and he was
like, “Oh, that’s cool.” And he was messing with it, and I was like, hearing
it the rhythm of the harmony more like in a staccato kinda thing. So, after
that, this may be like a reach but... (music changes) I started putting some
drums and stuff around it. I just put the basic kick snare just to hold the
beat, and then the staccato, keys, and then I put this melody [singing on
track] That’s me singing the melody like I’m demoing the melody for like Norah Jones. [laughs] I told you this is a very self-effacing thing. Hey, you got to listen to the one that, was it Rod Temperton who did it for “Rock With You”? I think, you got to
hear that. Then I did this like a turntable set up, Mackies, like nothing really crazy. He played piano on top of it, he played the Rhodes, and then he plays the strings you hear. And I just laid the demo for Norah, I just did it
really quick. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Do you have a song concept in mind when you sing to it? Q-Tip Yeah, it’s the melody. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Does it have a title? Did you say “Life...”? Q-Tip “Life is Better.” (music continues) And that sounds different than what the song was, right? So then she came into
the studio. (music switches to Norah Jones version) She came into the studio and then she sang. She’s great to work with, like no
entourage. She came in with a hoodie and goose. And I played it for her and
she’s just like, “OK.” (music: piano with Norah Jones vocals) So I just used her singing over Glasper playing. He was like playing a lot of
the different interpretations of the harmony and different voicings. And I was
just like, “At this point, I gotta move this around somehow.” I knew that it wasn’t the final thing, but I loved it so much that I knew I had to kinda construct around it so that my whole hip-hop shit kicks in. And then I was like, “I gotta put some drums on here and take it somewhere else.” So then I
started messing with these drums. (music: bass with drums) And I had my man play the bass and I sampled the bass and I replayed it and
programmed it around the kick. I just soffited the rhythm a little. Now, this
is where I start layering snares and shit like that. So that was the basic snare. And then I start like stacking claps. I put that open hat right there just to accentuate. Like little tasty things like that help underneath, like strengthen it, you know? So the groove, I felt like I had to change the groove up a little bit more, you know what I’m saying? And then I had my man Mark
Carey come back in and replay that [imitates staccato keyboard]. Just to put
it back, and I sampled the piano that Glas[per] was playing ‘cause he was
playing different voices. So you can hear the chop of it, like, how I chopped
the bass up. I chopped the piano as well. Those are pieces from four minutes
of him playing that I took and just put together. And then you know, I had my
man come and play the beginning part. And then it kinda became this thing
right? (music: intro Fender Rhodes arpeggio from “Life Is Better”) Then me and Mark Carey put that tone on, put that on front, like little intro.
And so you can see how that kinda evolved from just a demo. I like to call
them holding drums or holding rhythms because it’s a process sometimes. And
then it became this. (music: Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones – “Life is
Better”) So that’s the example of that. (applause) [laughs] I know you guys like Kanye West, right? So I’ve been working with
him for a while. When did the [My Beautiful] Dark Twisted Fantasy come
out? Like, four years ago? Five years ago? Three years ago? Anybody? About three?
Yeah, so I’ve been working with him like three or four years, and I don’t know
if anybody’s heard this song. You can look it up online, “Mama’s Boy[friend].”
Do you guys remember that record? No? Jeff “Chairman” Mao I have it. Q-Tip You have it? Jeff “Chairman” Mao Yeah, I have it. Q-Tip You can look for it, maybe? (music: Kanye West - Mama’s Boyfriend Demo) Q-Tip We were in Hawaii, and that’s not
even the [final version]. He did another version with Soulja Boy like, too. He
does so many versions. And I remember, he and I was like working on it a
couple times, and then we had this one that we were really gonna, probably do,
but it didn’t wind up, but I wanted you guys to hear one of the things that I
did for him. Jeff “Chairman” Mao For that album? Q-Tip Yeah. And it was kinda cool, ‘cause Kanye’s, the dude’ll be like, “You know, I
want to use that.” We were just talking about this Billy Joel thing, “Moving
Out.” He’s like, “I just want to use that, ‘cause I want that nigga to move
out. I want to use that.” Just that [hums a long bar of Billy Joel’s “Movin
Out”]. And he wanted to use that. And it was like, “Yo, so, flip it, like see
what you can do.” So this is it. (music: Kanye West – “Mama’s
Boyfriend” Demo) That was that. He was like, “I wanted something like Mobb Deep’s vibe,” so
that was like the vibe that I kinda gave them on top of that, so, I don’t
know. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Right, was there anything else that you wanted to share? Q-Tip [sighs] Well, I can show you guys one more thing and then I’ll be done. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Then we’ll take some questions. Q-Tip Yeah. So this thing is with a singer. I won’t say a name but if you guys like
her stuff you may know her, but she gave me something and she was like, “I
just don’t feel this, could you put something with it?” And I’m showing you
just different examples of production and processing. When you work with
different people it’s different things. When I did my thing the whole step-by-
step process that eventually got me to “Life Is Better,” the Kanye thing, we
did so many different versions of one song. And this thing somebody came to me
and was like, “I like this song, but I don’t like what’s happening around it.
I need it to be a little bit more up or...” So she gave me the song and I
thought it was cool from the start, but again, we’re in the service business
if that’s what she wants then it’s my job to kinda produce it [imitates drum
roll] for her. So this is what she [gave me]. (music: Unknow Demo) I thought it was cool, I liked it, but she just wanted me to put more of a
rhythm around it and kind of re-approach it that way. So I did this here for
her. Here we go. Starting. (music: version with Q-Tip beat and bass) I just play that as an example of the differences in quote-unquote “production” or a “beat-maker.” The differences in the two. Again, producing is like you’re in the service business. When somebody asks something you try and provide it, make the environment right for them, you know what I mean? So I just brought those examples along just to kind of show that. Jeff “Chairman” Mao We got a couple minutes left to take some questions so if there are any participants who have questions speak now. Just a few minutes left so participants, please. Audience Member Thank you for coming. When producing and rapping from the golden era right to
now, how do you feel about those who haven’t studied the art form are doing,
in quote, what they call “hip-hop”? Q-Tip How do I feel about those who...? Audience Member In quote, haven’t studied the art form and say that they are doing hip-hop.
Sometimes I see some music on TV and it seems pretty cheesy. So I don’t know
what someone like you who has tried to preserve the art form feels about it. Q-Tip I mean, it’s different times and what could be one man’s cheese could be another man’s, I don’t know, fondue night or something. [laughter] So, you can’t really do that. Although I am discerning enough to know that certain things are just kind of like flat. And then there’s some things that are really interesting. You know what I’m saying? I think the key is to just remain open and always try to let things that’s good affect you, you know what I’m saying? So I just try to be open. Be open-minded. Audience Member Second question, sir. How is it working with Kanye? You guys are from two different timelines. How is it that you are able to meet? It comes with the first question, like two different generations. How does he work for him? Q-Tip Oh, he’s great to work with. I mean, he’s just like really creative and expansive. He’s always trying to put himself artistically in a place where he’s not comfortable or familiar. So that usually breeds interesting things. You know what I mean? So he’s really, really good to work with, actually. Anybody else? Audience Member Thank you. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Anybody else? Audience Member Hey, man. How’s it going? Q-Tip What’s up, bro? All right? Audience Member Yeah, good. I was just wondering if there’s anything that you did to perhaps practice happiness or feel more connected to your music? Q-Tip Yeah, and it’s crazy because it’s such a fine line, you know what I mean? And
things can really set you off, and piss you off and you can go and all of
that. Which I really don’t like. I really wasn’t that person. But sometimes
being in this business and doing it for so long you can become it, so it’s
important to have things that bring you back and ground you. You know, I believe in God. I have a faith, you know? I also... I mean it may sound very un-hip hop-ish, but I do TM, which is transcendental meditation. So I come to that in really weird, perversed, odd times, you know? I try to like call on all spiritual sanctity and preciousness and positivity, you know? Anybody else? Audience Member I have another question. I just wanted to lastly talk about Vintage Volume
2 by Jay Dee and the Ummah, and perhaps just shed a little bit of your thoughts, any thoughts on that? Q-Tip Ah... Audience Member Or how you feel about it? Q-Tip Is that like a compilation? Audience Member Ah, I don’t know. Q-Tip No? Audience Member I’m not sure. Q-Tip Oh, OK. Audience Member I thought you might be familiar with it. Q-Tip Oh, OK. I mean, maybe if you give me some intel. Audience Member Like, “Trashy” and “Earl Flinn” and those tracks. Jeff “Chairman” Mao The instrumentals you mean? Q-Tip Oh, instrumentals? Audience Member Yeah, yeah. Q-Tip Oh, OK, OK, OK. I know what you’re talking about. No, I mean it’s dope. It’s quintessential Dilla, you know? It’s like the thing too with his beats is like, you don’t even need to hear people on them. You know what I’m saying? It’s dope. Audience Member Thank you. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Anybody else with a question? Audience Member Hi. Q-Tip Hi. Audience Member Are there any new artists around right now that inspire you? Q-Tip Ah, yeah, there is. I mean, I like these dudes TiRon and Ayomari from LA,
they’re pretty dope. I really like, Chance the Rapper. I think he’s dope. Man
I saw this dope band, but I forgot their name. But I like them. [laughs] [laughter] Jeff “Chairman” Mao We’ll keep an eye out for that band. Q-Tip Anybody else? Come on now. You guys got to open up a little bit. Don’t be so
shy. Ask a me a question. Torsten Schmidt First of all, thanks for coming. Q-Tip Thank you. Audience Member B, for the very spot-on impersonations. That was the best Bob Power I’ve seen outside of Bob, and it was really good. Q-Tip Oh, wow. I really didn’t even go deep on Bob. But go ahead. Audience Member The other thing I want to thank you about is, I guess you put on a lot of new
generations on to the wonderful worlds of Ms. Joni Mitchell, and we understand
that whole situation with the track was rather complicated. And I’m not really
sure whether you want to elaborate on it at all, but how did you feel in the
end when you realized that she is actually incorporating some of your lyrics
later on when she started performing “Big Yellow Taxi” again? Q-Tip Yeah, I heard that she was doing some of the Q-Tip-isms when she was performing, Joni Mitchell. I’m first of all floored by that because she’s like, you know, Mount Rushmore of a singer/songwriter, like you can’t do any wrong with Joni Mitchell. It was just crazy. I just love her, you know what
I’m saying? Like Hissing Of Summer Lawns and like, Blue. And that’s crazy,
right, I do hip-hop and I’m talkin all this shit, right? Stop judging. Y’all
know I’m just kidding. Ah, don’t judge me, God dammit. I like Joni Mitchell.
No, it was cool. I don’t really know about the complication part of it, but it
was great doing that. Yeah. Audience Member And maybe a small follow-up, another track that was pretty big in our worlds
featured you heavily but it wasn’t the original track which was Seiji’s
“Loose Tips” thing. I don’t know
whether you were familiar... Q-Tip The who, what, how? Audience Member There’s this guy from London called Seiji. Q-Tip Uh-huh. Torsten Schmidt And he did a thing called, [Loose
Tips,” like a few years ago. Q-Tip ”Loose Lips”? Audience Member Yeah, which was “Loose Lips,” “Loose Tips” thing. I don’t whether you were
familiar with that. Q-Tip Well, I have to say this, you know, honestly guys, I have been doing it a long
time, so I’m on so many records, like seriously. I would love somebody to
google and tell me on how many records I’ve guested. I must have done over a
hundred different appearances and raps for people over the years. I sometimes
can’t remember and hope that it doesn’t boot ill on me,man. But I can’t
remember. “Loose Lips”? I’m sure it was rockin’. But I just can’t remember.
Come on ask me some questions, y’all, before we gotta split. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Anybody else? Who else has a question? Audience Member First of all, I’m a huge fan of your music and all that, but... Q-Tip Thank you. Audience Member ...I also heard you DJ a lot locally, and the music that you post on Twitter
and stuff is really diverse. Like, you’ll post Larry Heard and all the
different types of stuff and, since you produce a lot, I kind of wondered if
you’d ever consider doing like a instrumental sort of thing, but kind of in
almost like a different style, maybe kind of modern soul, deep house? That
sort of thing. Have you ever been interested in that? Q-Tip Yeah, yeah. Definitely. I’ve been definitely thinking about doing something like that. Just doing an instrumental joint, like house, like deep house... Audience Member Yeah, yeah. ‘Cause, for me, totally I feel that there’s a lot of crossover,
especially with like some of the Detroit artists like Theo Parrish or Moodymann. Their stuff is kind of like hip-hop in a way. So, there’s a lot of crossover there so I just want to hear your thoughts on that. Q-Tip I been playing a lot of boogie parties and you know a lot of dance stuff. [points to Jeff “Chairman” Mao] My man right here he gets down too. Y’all know he’s nasty with
it, you know what I’m saying? But I’ve been playing a lot more of that because
I just feel like, I don’t know, it just moves me. So I’ve definitely been
thinking about doing something that’s like along those lines. For sure. Audience Member Word, word. Cool. Thank you. Q-Tip Yeah. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Who’s next? Another question? Audience Member Again, thank you in respect for a lot of people I’m speaking for with your
life altering music, where our identities wouldn’t be the same without it. So,
Jeff actually sat with Gary Bartz and asked him about artists sampling his music, and it was funny as Gary said, “Well, I love that because, number one, I own my masters.” But
we mentioned “Butter,” and he closed his eyes and he was like, “Yeah, I love
that track and the way it was used.” So hearing about how much care you put
into deconstructing and then reconstructing an artist’s music that you sample,
is there sort of a relationship that’s forged with artist’s that you sample
where, them hearing your work, they come to you and say, “Thank you for how
you brought this to a new generation”? Q-Tip Yeah, yeah. I mean, a couple of instances: Steve Arrington who was the lead
singer for a while for Slave. And he did that song, “Walking down the street
watching ladies, watching you.” Jeff “Chairman” Mao He was here. Q-Tip Oh, he was? Jeff “Chairman” Mao On that show we did last week. Q-Tip Oh, yeah. He’s expressed gratitude. George Clinton, we became really close friends, like he comes to my house sometimes and we kick it. Roy Ayers is another person who’s reached out. Donald Byrd, he’s somebody who’s reached out and like, we’ve had conversations. And, of course, Weldon Irvine and Leroy Burgess, who was a part of the Black Ivory, which was the first record we started out with “Gettin’ Up.” It’s been a lot of people, you know what I mean? It’s just great to be able to do that because I try to put the music that they’ve done so
wonderfully into my kind of context so I guess that’s what kinda strikes them.
That they never would have thought they’ve heard their stuff like that, but still kind of like it. So, it’s just all humbling, you know what I’m saying?
It’s great. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Anybody else? Audience Member Hi. Thanks a lot for today. Q-Tip Thank you. Benji B I just wanted to ask you as a DJ, and a New Yorker, like, what some of the most influential and sort of informative clubland experiences were as an early, in your early days? And which DJs and which nightclubs and which sound systems really had the most profound effect on you? Q-Tip Yeah, that’s a great question. Well, the Latin Quarter and Union Square, for
me, were like paramount. And both places, at the helm was Red Alert, DJ Red
Alert. And he used to have that shit rocking. Like, imagine going into Union
Square and you see there was a dance called the Wop. And back then everybody
would dance. Like kind of when you guys, we all go out now people dance, but
they’re not really, we kind of drink. And we kind of do this more [shakes a
bit], with our drinks in our hand and we sit or stand or whatever. It’s not
really like a sweat dance, like for four or five records in a row, like sweat.
You know what I mean? Like a guy asks a girl to dance that he doesn’t know. He says, “Would you like to dance with me?” You dance with him and it’s like, that whole relationship is gone, unfortunately. But back then there was this dance called the Wop. And it was like... [demonstrates] [laughter] Jarobi used to kill the Wop. Jarobi
would do the Wop like, he’d go...[demonstrates] [laughter] And Jarobi has like a big kind of... so when he’d be like this and it be so
crazy. So imagine walking into a club and it’s like 2000 kids doing the same
dance and doing it for, like, all night. Like, it was this, and Red Alert, he
was killin’ it. There was this place called Bassline and [Julie] Jewels used
to spin there. And this was back in like ‘87 and it was a house and the system
was just knockin’. There was the Area nightclub which was more like a
gathering rather than a nightclub. There was The Garage, I didn’t get to get
in there but went by there, yeah. And then, you know, the World was rockin’.
The soundsystem was crazy in there. Like I said, Soul Kitchen was dope, they
used to do that SOVs. They used to serve chicken and 40 ounces and do slides
and stuff like that. Then there was the Building, which is the Power House and
that was like on 26th Street, between 6th and 5th. Right now it’s like a big
parking lot, but it used to be an electric company. And it was huge and it had
these crazy ceilings and it was beautiful wood and it fit like 3,000 people
and the system was just immaculate and clean. And Kid Capri used to DJ in
there and he would destroy it. It was just a lot of clubs back then. The Club
Mars, which was where we first started DJing, Ali and I back in like ‘89. It
had four floors, and we were on a floor, and Clark Kent was on a floor, and Jellybean Benitez was on another floor, and it was crazy. Those was, [sings]
“Those were the days.” Jeff “Chairman” Mao Here’s a little piece at Union Square. (video: Union Square live performance by A Tribe Called Quest) Q-Tip [comments over video] We had one mic, so we had to do the whole show like
that. We had to just pass the mic around. Yeah, it was very dangerous. Boy, I
was deep in Brooklyn. (music ends) Jeff “Chairman” Mao That was in Brooklyn, really? Anyone else with a question for Tip? Audience Member So Offline is coming back next week. Yes. I went to a few last year, and you mentioned the culture of the dancing non-stop top to finish, that happened at Offline last year. People would start at 12 and dance ‘till the lights came up and then we all got kicked out. I notice that it’s been weekly this year, ‘cause it was like maybe monthly. So what was the process behind saying let’s
do this every week? Q-Tip It’s just the spot too, ‘cause it’s a new spot, you know what I mean? I felt
like Irving Plaza was also another place where we used to go and party and
stuff. And I just wanted to bring it back to a real New York City relic, great place. Man, I love those parties. You know what I mean? So we’re going to see how this one goes, the weekly things. But I just like the theme of the Offline thing because it was just trying to encourage people ‘cause, you know, we all here, we’re all involved in music some way somehow. Right? So whatever kind of music it is that you do or you’re interested in, I think, whether it’s a
concert or a club, that’s our church. That’s our congregation. All of us like,
we are all artists. We’re all here together, you know what I’m saying? So we
gotta know that keeping people coming to the shows, the concerts or the clubs
to enjoy music and to connect through music. It’s a sacred place. For me, it just happens to be like, I think that dance is one of the major forms of
communication. It’s probably one of the stronger ones too, because it taps
into a place that’s not normally visited, you know what I mean? And it’s
speaking without speaking and it’s energy and I just really think with music
and that transfer of energy to most people is just really important. And I
think that dancing and party and the concert, you have, like, Jews next to
Blacks, next to Indians, next to gays, next to straights, next to hoods, next
to, you know, princes, to paupers, you know? It’s the way to congregate
everybody truly. I try to do those parties to try to bring everybody in. You
know, like, “Put the phone down, we don’t have to do none of that. Let’s just
dance for once in awhile.” You know I’m saying? That’s just my thing, so
hopefully that will continue to go. Jeff “Chairman” Mao Anybody else? Well, this is the last lecture of the Red Bull Music Academy 2013, New York City, and I think we did a nice job with this gentleman over here, so I wanna say thanks to Q-Tip. (applause)