Ear Candy

Face it, Q-Tip has had a life way more fly than yours, fool. Before he reached the tender age of 25, the Harlem-born MC co-founded the influential hip-hop outfit A Tribe Called Quest, shared the silver screen with Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice, earned a Grammy nomination, and collaborated with...

By Benjamin Leatherman

November 13, 2008

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Face it, Q-Tip has had a life way more fly than yours, fool. Before he reached the tender age of 25, the Harlem-born MC co-founded the influential hip-hop outfit A Tribe Called Quest, shared the silver screen with Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice, earned a Grammy nomination, and collaborated with the likes of George Clinton and the Beastie Boys.

These days, the rhyme-spinning, 38-year-old microphone maestro is working with alt-rap superstar Common, and he just dropped a new album (The Renaissance) on his listeners. Q-Tip (a.k.a. Kamaal Ibn John Fareed) has also become a mainstay on the annual 2K Sports Bounce Tour, which combines hip-hop, sports, and video games into one massive mix of dopeness. This year’s version hits Marquee Theatre.

Mon., Nov. 17, 6:30 p.m., 2008

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Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music, and nightlife. He began writing for New Times in 2003 and joined the staff full-time in 2005. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Contact: Benjamin Leatherman

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