CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO FINALLY HAVE KAMAAL THE ABSTRACT RELEASED!
This site is not the official Q-Tip MySpace page. That page can be found at myspace.com/qtipmusic . This page was created by Ryan McLelland , the creator of the release Kamaal the Abstract petition , in hopes of finally having Arista Records finally release this amazing album.
Ryan started the petition in hopes of having the long-shelved Kamaal the Abstract finally released by Arista Records. Though Q-Tip has since left Arista for Universal Motown Records, efforts have not ceased to have this album released. Q-Tip has also put the petition front and center on his MySpace page. The petition is available at: http://www.petitiononline.com/kamaal and is made so it can be signed very easily.
Want to do more? Arista Records is under the roof of one Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Their website is http://www.sonybmg.com . Arista's phone number is 646-840-5600. If you call and they say they only know about who is currently ON the label, asked to be transferred. Talk to the legal department! Talk to the media department! Ask for the Public Relations People! Call Sony BMG direct at 212-833-8000 and ask to speak to Mr. Andrew Lack (Chairman of Board of Directors), Mr. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz (CEO), Mr. Tim Bowen (COO), or Mr. Kevin Kellehere (Executive VP). Get their secretaries, get their lackeys, ask these crusty white guys why they continue to hate on an amazing piece of work!
This type of grassroots campaign can be effective as the 'FREE FIONA' campaign had Fiona Apple's long-shelved CD Extraordinary Machine finally see release. NOW IS THE TIME TO SEE ONE OF THE BEST HIP-HOP ALBUMS EVER RECORDED TO FINALLY BE RELEASE!!!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO FINALLY HAVE KAMAAL THE ABSTRACT RELEASED!
From AllMusic.com (written by John Bush)
A personal, unique project compared to Amplified (Q-Tip's first under his own name), Kamaal the Abstract fittingly sounds more like a solo album; whereas Amplified merely built on the digital soul of the last Tribe Called Quest album (The Love Movement), this one is wide-ranging and diverse, a relaxed, loose-limbed date. Q-Tip lays way back on these cuts, rapping in a quick, low monotone for the opener, "Feelin'," even while the song breaks into some restrained guitar grind on the choruses. Guitars, in fact, crop up all over this record. Setting aside comparisons to the contemporary record by N.E.R.D. (the rock side project of hip-hop super-producers Neptunes), Q-Tip crafted a record that pays homage to the last gasp of organically produced mainstream pop in the '70s and '80s, paying a large compliment to Prince and Stevie Wonder, even as he proves himself far more talented than D'Angelo (if not quite as soulful). The beats are pointed and clipped, to be expected on a Q-Tip record, but he allows plenty of space for the arrangements to speak, like the trim trumpet lines pacing "Even if It Is So" or allowing plenty of room for extended blowing from a flute on the warm, pastoral "Do You Dig You." The former is one of the best tracks here, Q-Tip introducing his story song with a fluid, ten-second speed-rap that says more about the plight of the single mother he adores than any other rapper could with an entire album. This wasn't the kind of record that lights up the charts — which could account for the reason it didn't appear on the shelves in late April 2002, as expected — but in many ways it's superior to the released Amplified.
Information from Wikipedia:
Kamaal the Abstract was an unreleased album by Q-Tip, which was to be released by Arista on April 23, 2002 but was canceled due to the fact that the record label deemed the album too "un-commercial."
The album's advances were released, however, therefore making any copies of said promotional items sought-after collector's items.
The album is composed of mostly groovy live instrumentation, reminiscent of full-length albums by Stevie Wonder and Prince, and is widely praised as a solid effort wrongfully restrained. It is considered to be highly superior to his previous solo effort, Amplified.
In 2006, Q-Tip announced he was in negotiation to regain control of the album from Arista, and is going to be re-released in 2007.
Kamaal The Abstract track listing:
1. Feelin'
2. Do U Dig U?
3. A Million Times
4. Blue Girl
5. Barely in Love
6. Heels
7. Abstractionisms
8. Caring
9. Even If It Is So
OPEN - Q-TIP'S UNRELEASED THIRD ALBUM:
Open was going to be an album by Q-Tip - the follow-up to Amplified - but like Kamaal the Abstract, this was canceled for being too "un-commercial". Tracks will re-appear on his album The Renaissance in 2007.
Track listing:
1. Johnny Died
2. Black Boy
3. Official
4. N/A (featuring Common)
5. Say Something For Me
6. Interlude
7. I'm Not Gone Have It
8. Unknown
9. Unidentified
10. Feelings
11. Where Did You Go
12. That's Sexy (featuring André 3000)
13. Late Mornin'
14. Compute
15. I Believe (featuring D'Angelo)
16. Lisa (Extended Instrumental)
17. Instrumental
18. Lisa (Original)
DOWNLOADS:
Download Open The Mixtape: Abstract Innovations.
Download Open.
Download Kamaal The Abstract.