Q-Tip - The Renaissance (2008)

(originally posted on Facebook)

Whatever it is that makes people love rap or hip-hop music eludes me, so maybe it's wrong for me to keep reviewing and declaring it crap... No, that's misguided, especially if I must hear this before I die. So what if the music makes me want to kill myself, right? If an artist is going to release their work they should be prepared for some asshole like me to talk shit about it so that's what I'm going to do.

There's just not much to understand really about hip-hop. The most important part of the genre is to make the beat easy to rap over. For that reason most rap songs have very similar tempos. The Renaissance continues this boring trend unabated. Then there are the samples... pieces of old songs that the artist or some producer thought sounded cool so they are dropped into the song all chopped up and out of context. To me that seems insulting to the original artist, but everyone from the hip-hop world seems so impressed when it's done.

I will give credit where due, and Q-Tip does get props for using real instruments. Instead of a drum machine, there is an actual drummer performing some of the songs on this album. There's even a guy playing bass. It does give those songs a bit of depth that I usually don't hear on a rap album.

But like most hip hop songs and albums I've heard there's so little payoff. Not every song is the same, but rap leaves so little room for building tension or excitement for a huge ending. There's a flat beat, flowing rhymes, and steady instrumentals that just go on and on until Q-Tip is done talking.

A renaissance this album is not. It's nice that someone actually thought to use real instruments on an album of original music, but it's still only a hair better than a regular rap album. 2 stars.