When A Tribe Called Quest came out on their first album singing "I don't eat no ham and eggs" you knew they were on a more natural, afro-centric vibe. By the time their fourth album, Beats, Rhymes and Life came out, Q-Tip changed his name to Kamaal Fareed, songs were interlaced with Siraj Wahaj samples, and he and Ali Shaheed Muhammad both declared their belief in Islam. The song which probably represents the peak of the group's spiritual development is The Remedy (with Common Sense) from the Get on the Bus soundtrack. But by the time their fifth album, The Love Movement, came out, they had started to lose some of their original vitality, and shortly thereafter the group announced its break-up in 1998. Q-Tip released a solo album called Amplified, with the single Vivrant Thing (and oddly enough, the video included the kind of "video hos" which never would have never appeared in a Tribe video in the early days before Q-Tip converted). And after that, Q-Tip seemed to disappear off the map.
Recently I found out that a few years ago Q-Tip actually did complete an album called Kamaal the Abstract, but Arista records has so far refused to release it. There is actually a campaign going to get Arista to Release Q-Tip's Kamaal the Abstract with its own website where you can sign an online petition and find a couple of links on what Q-Tip has been up to lately.
Here is another site with some Q-Tip news. Q-Tips to Jazz Joint is a New York Post review of Kamaal the Abstract. Here are some more reviews An interview with Q-Tip about an even newer unreleased album called Open. And then, pretty much all the Q-Tip or Tribe lyrics for their *released* material.
Both Kamaal Fareed and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have been keeping busy participating in other people's projects. And inshaAllah, we haven't seen the last or the best of their contributions to the industry.
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