NEWS: Q-Tip Discusses “Cruel Summer” Involvement & Signing to G.O.O.D Music

In an interview with Complex, tribesman Q-Tip discusses his move to Kanye’s mighty G.O.O.D Music label and his involvement in the upcoming Cruel Summer album. “It’s [been] a long journey, but I’ve basically been signed to Universal in some way shape or form or incarnation for about 10 years. So I’ve just kind of been through the system. I still had an obligation to fill and they didn’t necessarily want to discard me for whatever reasons so I kind of had my pick of the litter. Dreamworks, Interscope, Motown, and then Def Jam… I met Kanye years ago at a show. I was working with [with him] during Watch The Throne. I was playing him beats that I was doing and he was like, “Yo, what label are you on?” And I was like, Def Jam. And he was like, “Damn you need to be on G.O.O.D”. And we were rocking, and I was like, let’s do it. It’s that simple”. 

Speaking on his involvement on the upcoming Kanye West curated Cruel Summer album, Tip reveals “I’ve done beats. I’ve done rhymes. We’ll see. I didn’t mix. I’m just contributing… We are all a part of it, it’s all our thing, but [Kanye] made kind of the decision [to manage it]. I think we all make each other better… That one thing with Kanye is he’s a really smart guy, and he doesn’t call it a group. He doesn’t necessarily call it a label in a way. He doesn’t necessarily call it family in a way. It’s just a bunch of people who are alike. Even though they come from different place and different places and say different things, everybody’s drive is the same… Everybody from Kanye to Pusha to Chainz, everybody to myself to Common, everyone has their foot like this. Mashed down to the floor. We on the Autobahn though. We ain’t mashed down on the floor on 2nd Avenue running lights. Everbody’s in they lane, in they space. Everyone is moving with passion”. 

The veteran rapper also talked about offering advice to younger guys in the camp like Big Sean and KiD CuDi, saying “I love to give information out. Anything that I’ve known I give; from sounds to mixes to opinions. I just try to be vocal. So I give a lot. I don’t really know what I give. But I know that I do give. I don’t keep inventory of what I give. I just do it because I enjoy it”.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Cruel Summer drops September 18th.