iLL Vibes Exclusive: Q-Tip at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC (11/30/08)

I'm still in awe of how hip hop legend Q-Tip tore it DOWN at the 9:30 Club on Sunday night. It was unbelievable, take in mind I saw A Tribe Called Quest this summer at Rock the Bells and Tip was not this hype. The Midnight Marauder got on stage at around 10:30 after Pacific Division, The Knux, and the Cool Kids tore it down and justifiably, midnight was the time where the concert got the most live!

The Cool Kids were an amazing opening act.

It was when Tip bumped the bass on "Award Tour" (o:11) after the soft intro of that track. If you don't know what I'm talking about, refresh yourself with the video below and put the volume up. I mean the crowd was jumping up and down just vibing when the bass dropped. "Check the Rhime" also had the crowd Buggin' Out. Trust me, it was live...my scuffed of white 89' Nike Air Flights are direct evidence of how wild it was. Q-Tip at one moment was like a stand-up comedian crackin jokes on this one fan to try to get him to calm down cause he was too hype pushing and cursing all night.



It was crazy how Q-Tip guy went back and forth flipping his classics with bangers off his new album, The Renaissance. For example, check out the footage I got of how he mixed in "Let's Ride" (a track that is epitome of chill music) into "We Fight/Love" (a smooth track off his new album featuring Raphael Saadiq).



One of the most impressive songs of the night besides his epic Tribe tracks, was his performance of "You" which is the most mellow song off his new album. He was so into the lyrics and you could see the passion in his voice, eyes, and hand movement as he rapped every word of the poetic, romantic gem.



He kept the crowd captivated all night from the deep tracks to the booty shaking tracks like "Vivrant Thing." The dude left everything on the stage yelling, dancing, screaming, and jumping so hard with sweat all over his forehead as he had to take a couple minutes to Breathe and Stop in between tracks.


The Abstract had lyrics to go all night and I was hoping to get my chance to at least dap him up. The time came at the end of the end, when he bumped the hip hop tribute song "Life is Better" featuring Norah Jones as he went into the crowd. It was a Love Movement as he was smothered by fans and out of nowhere he popped up right in front of me and I dapped him as he passed the mic to me to finish the chorus as I yelled, "Life is Beeeetter, now that I found you." Indeed, I found hip hop that night and I was in love with the music. One Love. Rest in Peace J Dilla.



Please listen to the lyrics of Q-Tip 2:20 he is really spitting about love for Hip Hop and its history.