Tue 9 Dec 2008
Qtip vs. New York Magazine: Why are you s–tting on me?
Posted by Miss Info under beef , hmmm....? , quotes[20] Comments
One of my favorite people/artists vs. the mag behind one of my favorite general-culture-blogs.
NY Mag printed a recent review of The Renaissance in which maybe the writer’s snark overpowered the contextual nuggets of praise…. For example….
“Q-Tip’s flow on his new disc remains mellow, freewheeling, and vaguely inspirational. But it doesn’t feel relevant (e.g., the perfectly serviceable but random duet with Norah Jones). He talks about playing parties with fellow old-timer D.J. Scratch and being taken aback by how “the kids” sing along with Ice Cube and the Pharcyde. “There’s a thirst for information,” he says. But mostly, they want Kanye West.
Q-Tip is friends with West—he credits him with turning rap around after a decade when everything “started to sound the same”—and he’s talked of recording a CD with West collaborator Common. West, for his part, name-drops Tribe and Q-Tip at every opportunity. “It’s encouraging to see the respect that people like Kanye have for what we did before,” says Q-Tip.
Still, it’s West who’s winning Grammys and endorsing soft drinks, while Q-Tip is trying to warm up a hostile Knicks crowd. And now Kanye has his own album coming out, 808s & Heartbreak, that’s sure to dwarf The Renaissance.*** “I’m glad I passed him the baton, and he ran a while, but I’ve been working now, and I can run, too,” says Q-Tip. “My hand is outstretched. Pass me the baton, so I can go a bit.”
Knowing Tip, you can imagine how he said these quotes, endearing and self-deprecating. And reading the excerpt, you don’t get that sense. Its more pitiful. Which clearly, Tip took offense to. And so he fired back in the web version’s comments sections….
“damn mr. leitch!! why are u shitting on me and dick riding kanye. seems like its an assignment you didnt want to do so why do it? you should have done a DL4 assignment or better yet a ‘whatever happened to fallout shelters in a Mc Carthy era new york?’ piece!!! i’m good… you??? JADED!! yes this is qtip.”
(followed by another comment)
“oh i forgot… ASSHOLE.”
Today, NY Mag called attention to Tip’s response on their Vulture Blog. Obviously they did so because its juicy, not because they feel bad, but I’m still happy they did. Vulture also added: “How do we know it’s really Q-Tip? Because he also sent us an e-mail directing us to his comments and inquiring ‘did i bang your ex girl???’ (Not to our knowledge.)”
***would any of you even put releases from Tip and Ye in competition with each other? They didnt drop on the same day did they?
December 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Ye readily bigs up Tip and Tribe generally as a huge influences. I read this article when it came out and I was kind of confused as to why they did a feature as opposed to just a straight review and still had so many passive aggressive shots at Tip. What’s worse is that the writer hides his criticisms of Tip behind his compliments for Kanye. Pathetically, the writer has telegraphed this as Ye would NEVER say something to this effect. And this is Kanye!! He readily talks craaaaaazy.
That’s what bugs me: the fact that the writer doesn’t outright deliver his critique, which he is completely entitled to.
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December 9th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
No ma’am. nvr that. its like comparing civil rights activists back in the day… which movement was more essential.
EVERY GESTURE TOWARDS THE GOAL WAS APPRECIATED.
yeezy n tip on striving to make good music. and appreciate it, no matter where it comes from.
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December 9th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Q-Tip ain’t got sh*t to prove. His legend is already cemented as far as hip-hop goes. The comparison angle was unnecessary and came across as a little spiteful. It’s supposed to be about The Renaissance, so what do Kanye’s album sales and awards have to do with anything?
The bottom line is, he album is good, so at the end of the day, Tip is gonna be alright. LOL @ his response though!
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December 9th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Check this out http://www.freebeeheaven.com/Employees/0006.html
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December 10th, 2008 at 12:14 am
I wouldn’t say there in competition but they are in the same category, a category that Tip helped invent. But it’s obvious who ever wrote this is an asshole. It’s good to see someone besides Kanye going off on reviewers.
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December 10th, 2008 at 12:21 am
im not the biggest fan of qtip but i def think he deserves respect for his contributions to the game..
sound like the writer had an axe to grind
most critics are failed musicians anyways
so fukk em all
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December 10th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Ohhh that writer Will Leitch used to be the blogger for Deadspin, a big sports blog.. he was kinda known for being snarky/jerky there and for tolerating/encouraging racist comment threads when black athletes were discussed..
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missinfo Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:44 am
uh oh…..
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December 10th, 2008 at 4:01 am
I do not believe that’s the same Will Leitch. Can’t possibly be, can it? Who, tell me, does one have to blow to get a regular gig in a magazine writing about stuff you know little about?
One of the worst crutches of criticism is constantly comparing one piece of work to another, and here we have an entire piece like that. There’s about three lines where he actually discusses the record. I suppose the piece was incorrectly placed under “reviews,” that’s the best I can do NY Mag
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December 10th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Jay has cemented it. Leitch is a crotchety man.
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December 10th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
This looks to me like a Q-Tip Supporter.
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=214709_-1__0_~0_-1_12_2008_0_0&category=191366&em3298=&em3282=&em3281=&em3161=
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December 10th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I don’t really see the big deal. I’ve seen way snarkier profiles–especially on the web. I think the writer references West so much, because he’s the biggest beneficiary from what ATCQ put down, back in the day. It’s similar to Jay and BDK to me.
Long story short, Q-Tip’s album is dope, but for those readers under 30, and not hip hop nerds, the writer may have to use West as the closest reference point to get people’s attention.
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December 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
More and more I can tell that many journalist who write reviews for major media outlets really do not bother to actually listen to the CD.
If they do listen, I wonder what they hear under a dead-line while they’re multitasking. Can you really judge a CD after just one listen?
Q-Tip didn’t deserve that at all.
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December 10th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
It’s obvious Q-Tip said those things tounge-in-cheek. But ummmm, tounge-in-cheek cus they’re true. Q-Tip’s the man and all of us older folks understand that he layed the foundation for Kanye, etc. But that matters not to the consumers (ie: kids.) Guess the truth hurts.
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December 10th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
“***would any of you even put releases from Tip and Ye in competition with each other?”
Well Kanye did name himself A Guy Called West at one point… For a mainstream mag, it’s a valid comparison.
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December 10th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
RADIO SUCKS. THEY PLAY THE SAME 15 SONGS OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER. THEN SUM 12 YR OLD CALLS UP AN REQUEST DA SAME SONG THEY WERE ALREADY GANNA PLAY OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER N OVER. THEN WEN I CALL UP AN SAY MAN CAN YALL PLAY KILLA LIPSTICK BY GHOSTFACE THEY CANT DO IT. RADIO SUCKS EXCEPT FOR WEN THEY GIVE THE WEATHER AND TRAFFIC REPORT
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December 11th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Yo why’d they rename the Triboro, I’m still tryna figure that out.
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December 11th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Q-Tip old ass needs to Sit The F*** Down. He lookin like Larry Holmes flabby & sick like Pac said. His flow is garbage now nobody is checking for a Q-Tip album except for extreme backpack nerds & his block
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December 11th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Long story short, Q-Tip’s album is dope, but for those readers under 30, and not hip hop nerds, the writer may have to use West as the closest reference point to get people’s attention.
^ ^ lol @ ‘not hip-hop nerds’. seriously, a guy has multiple platinum albums with his group, a hit single within the past 9 years, and you have to be over 30 to know who he is now? if you’re 27 now, that means you were 18 when ‘vivrant thing’ came out. if you’re heavy into hip-hop, you usually started listening in high school or college. so, even if you’re 24 now, you would have been in high school when vivrant dropped and still likely would have heard it. replace ‘hip-hop nerd’ with ‘regular hip-hop listener’ and you might be more spot on. q-tip’s album is dope though, you’re right about that.
and to g-unot killa, you don’t even know what q-tip’s block is…lol. you’d probably get beat up if you visited though.
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troy ceasar Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 1:36 pm
I love yae’s music but w/o tribe kanye wouldn’t sound like he does. bottom line. atcq transformed rap music. period. I would say tribe & nwa are the 2 most influential groups n hip hop history.
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