The Renaissance is rapper and producer Q-Tip’s second solo studio album. Q-Tip is most known for his involvement in A Tribe Called Quest, where he was a prominent MC in that group alongside the late Phife Dawg. Quest is known for their jazzy, smooth instrumentals and simple, catchy flows with down-to-earth lyrics. The Renaissance was first worked on in 2002, but Q-Tip’s former label shelved it because it wouldn’t perform well commercially. Man, were they wrong. When it did release in November 2008 it debuted at number 11 in the Billboard Top 200, selling 34,000 copies in its first week. If you want to listen to it, I’d recommend trying the singles, Life is Better and Gettin’ Up. If you enjoy those, listen to the rest of them chronologically.

Opinion Time: It is a banger album. It’s super smooth, catchy with smart, soulful lyricism and music, and one of my favorites in all of rap. The white cover really matches the sound of the album and so many of the beats and grooves are stamped on my mind forever. Q-Tip delivers cool layered lyrics with catchy flows. And if there’s a feature, it’s over; you’re in for a banger. Q-Tip does a surprising amount of singing on the record and it works well. Get past the first two intentionally weird songs and you’re in for an experience like white velvet.

Best Song: “Gettin’ Up”

Worst Song: “Johnny is Dead”