It was in a 1974 Dodge Dart that Q-Tip and his Tribe Called Quest brethren took a four-minute cross-country trek with "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo," the second single off the group's 1990 debut, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Now, 22 years later, both car and Q-Tip are hitting the road: Chrysler will introduce a new $15,995 Dart this year, and Q-Tip is headed to Miami Beach for a DJ set at LIV this Wednesday.
Though Tip is best known for his role in A Tribe Called Quest, the 41-year-old MC is also an avid record collector. To call him a musical expert would be a vile understatement — Q-Tip the Abstract is passionate, perhaps obsessive, about music. There's a great scene in Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, Michael Rapaport's 2011 documentary, where Tip deconstructs Lonnie Smith's "Spinnin' Wheel," one of several songs sampled on Tribe's "Can I Kick It?" With a subtle intensity, Tip recalls the first time he fell in love with the record, detailing each moment from the time he examined the album's cover art to the minute he heard the snare drum. That's when you realize, This dude is fucking nuts.
So even though he won't be spitting verses at LIV, you can still expect Q-Tip to blow your mind.
