Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (born Jonathan William Davis, April 10, 1970), better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American rapper, record producer, singer, and DJ.

Nicknamed the Abstract, he is noted for his innovative jazz-influenced style of hip hop production and his philosophical, esoteric and introspective lyrical themes.

He embarked on his music career in the late 1980s, as an MC and main producer of the influential alternative hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest.

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.

[15] At age nine, he began rapping after being encouraged by Phife Dawg; shortly before that, they both heard "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang for the first time.

[16] He was also inspired by his father's extensive jazz record collection, and at age 12, he began to DJ and make pause tape beats.

[1] Q-Tip attended Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, where he first befriended Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Afrika Baby Bam and Mike Gee, with the latter two forming the hip-hop group Jungle Brothers.

[13] Afrika Baby Bam gave him the nickname "Q-Tip", which became popular in high school, eventually becoming his stage name.

[17][21] The album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, was released in early 1990 and established Q-Tip as a highly skilled lyricist.

[22][24] The following year, Q-Tip was involved in a fight with new jack swing group Wreckx-n-Effect, over Phife Dawg's lyrics on the single "Jazz (We've Got)".

[23] As a result, it is believed that the ski mask that Q-Tip wore, in A Tribe Called Quest's video for the single "Hot Sex", was covering up his injuries.

[25] The song's chorus was performed by Tupac Shakur in the film Poetic Justice, in which Q-Tip made his acting debut as Janet Jackson's love interest.

[27] Along with his "practically telepathic" lyrical interplay with Phife Dawg, the album introduced Q-Tip's gritty style of production.

[29] Q-Tip helped Lee recruit three Brooklyn MCs for the song: Special Ed, Masta Ace and Buckshot, who formed the group Crooklyn Dodgers.

[1] By 1995, Q-Tip, Jay Dee and Muhammad formed a production team, known as The Ummah, in which each member produced songs individually and received a songwriting credit for their work.

[23] Queens duo Mobb Deep, whom Q-Tip discovered in the early 1990s,[31] enlisted him as a mixing engineer and producer for their 1995 album The Infamous.

[30] The album was promoted by the hit singles "Vivrant Thing" and "Breathe and Stop", which were more pop-oriented than his previous work with A Tribe Called Quest.

[45] That year, he completed his follow-up album Kamaal the Abstract, which was recorded with a live band and featured Q-Tip singing the majority of its songs.

[47][48] Q-Tip explained his label situation during this period: Well, after I put out Amplified, I was talking to Clive Davis [at Arista] about doing this album with the band.

And Clive's regime was up [in 2000], and [Def Jam heads] Lyor Cohen and Russell [Simmons] told me I should stay at Arista.

[4] Jay Dee, who later went by the name J Dilla, died of the blood disease TTP in February 2006, with Q-Tip serving as a pallbearer at his funeral.

[53] Q-Tip was among a group of producers who were brought to work on Kanye West's 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

[54] In 2011, his production eventually appeared on West and Jay-Z's collaborative album Watch the Throne,[55] contributing to the songs "Lift Off" and "That's My Bitch".

The following year, Q-Tip signed to West's GOOD Music label, through Def Jam, and prepared the release of his new album, The Last Zulu.

[56] In 2013, Q-Tip announced that A Tribe Called Quest would perform their last show, as an opening act for West's Yeezus Tour,[57] and the following year, he produced the song "Meteorite" for Mariah Carey and co-wrote "Ain't That Easy" and "Sugah Daddy" from D'Angelo's Black Messiah album.

However, in 2015, the group performed live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to commemorate the 25th anniversary of People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

[4] In 2018, he recorded a cover version of Elton John and Kiki Dee's song "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Demi Lovato.

[61] Later that year, he joined the faculty of New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where he began teaching a course that explores the connection between jazz and hip hop.

"[62] In 2019, Q-Tip revealed that he was working on three solo albums (The Last Zulu, AlGoRhythms, and Riotdiaries),[63] as well as projects by Mary J. Blige and Danny Brown.

[66] He also performed the chorus on the track "More Life", which he co-produced, from Cordae's 2021 EP, Just Until...[67] Jack White's 2022 album Fear of the Dawn features Q-Tip on the single "Hi-De-Ho".