Where Are We Ranking Q-Tip?

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Larry Lambo

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Okay, I'm confused.

I always assumed Ali Shaheed did most of the producing on the Tribe albums. If not, WTF did he do???

I know some joints that Q-Tip for sure produced, but didn't know he did enough to be a "legend"

As a rapper he's top 75 to me. He was nice but there's been so many greats. He had solo albums to establish himself as an MC legend but did not reach that upper tier.
 
DANJ!

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Larry Lambo said:
Okay, I'm confused.

I always assumed Ali Shaheed did most of the producing on the Tribe albums. If not, WTF did he do???

I know some joints that Q-Tip for sure produced, but didn't know he did enough to be a "legend"

As a rapper he's top 75 to me. He was nice but there's been so many greats. He had solo albums to establish himself as an MC legend but did not reach that upper tier.
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Nah, Q-Tip did most of the best ATCQ shyt with Ali on the assist.

And lots of great tracks and remixes for other artists.

Also seemingly one of the only artists from his era that didn't end up bitter and outdated, his musical approach never attempted to ride the wave of what was new or stayed stuck in history... he always maintained his own unique shyt and made it work for whatever year it came out. He's way doper than he gets credit for.
 
Ziploc

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Based off influence and his work on the boards he is Top 5 DOA producer/co producer(name a producer over 40 and i'll bet his name comes up).I'm heavily biased but as a rapper he is top 20 to me based off his wordplay and the fact that he might not have been the most captivating rapper but the songs are so well structured and stood the test of time so overall Kamal is Top 10 to me.I could make a case for him being the single most important cat when it comes to 90's boom bap,his 6 degrees of seperation is second to none
 
DrunkerThanAMotherfucker

DrunkerThanAMotherfucker

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GPBear said:
Top 10 at least, probably top 5.

He basically put Jazz back on the map.

I know Pete Rock, Prince Paul, Marley Marl, even Dust Brothers were digging for jazz, but Q-Tip was on some other shyt.
Led to the explosion in neo-soul, and most of the "mature" music that's come out since 1991.
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This is very important. ATCQ knocked down barriers and ushered in an entire new era of Black music. Just in hip-hop alone, do you think The Roots, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, J Dilla, Kanye West, (in some parts) Outkast and Nas, Pharcyde, etc have a lane to make the music they eventually did? Hell, you can probably trace most of the alternative/avant garde/experimental hip hop made this decade back to Q-Tip. All roads lead back to ATCQ.

Q-Tip not only made the avant garde possible for hip-hop/neo-soul artists, but also made it cool to make.
 
DrunkerThanAMotherfucker

DrunkerThanAMotherfucker

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Also - if I'm being completely honest, A Tribe Called Quest EASILY has the highest replay value out of ANY late 80s/early 90s hip hop act. I have never put Tribe on for someone new and had them comment that it sounds dated. Any of the first three albums sound as fresh in 2018 as they did when they were released. ATCQ created truly timeless music. All of the alternative rappers nowadays are still chasing ATCQ.
 
Black Bolt

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He's in my personal Top 5. He's Top 10 all time tho, criminally underrated as a rapper
 
aloebeats

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JustCKing said:
Q Tip is being slighted here. There's a strong case for Q Tip being Top 5 Hip Hop producers ever. He was pretty much tutoring other greats and influenced other greats. Some of my favorite producers were influenced by his work.

As an artist, he's Top 10 Hip Hop artists ever.
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Facts:salute:
 
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