Q-Tip

Legendary hip-hop innovator and Grammy award winner Q-Tip first rose to prominence in 1988 as one of the founders of the trailblazing hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, whose cerebral wordplay, socially conscious themes, and intricate fusion of jazz and other genre-bending influences changed hip-hop’s lexicon forever.

Q-Tip continued to evolve and expand his profile as a solo artist with such critically acclaimed solo projects as 1999’s Amplified and 2008’s The Renaissance. Outside of his production work with A Tribe Called Quest, he has also produced for a range of artists across genres including Mariah Carey, Busta Rhymes, Whitney Houston, Mark Ronson, Kanye West, John Legend and more.

As an actor, Q-Tip has appeared in various films such as Poetic Justice, She Hate Me, and Prison Song, the latter of which he co-wrote and played the lead role. As a DJ, he has hosted the Apple Music 1 radio show Abstract Radio since 2015. In 2016, Q-Tip was named the artistic director for hip hop culture at the Kennedy Center, and in 2018, he became the instructor of a jazz and hip hop course at New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.

Q-Tip is one of the most acclaimed figures in hip hop. AllMusic states that he "led a jazz-based hip-hop revolution during the '90s", calling him "the best rapper/producer in hip-hop history." About.com placed him #17 on their list of the Top 25 Hip-Hop Producers, and #38 on their list of the 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time. In 2012, The Source ranked him #20 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.