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November 3, 2008

New Q-Tip (Feat. Norah Jones) - "Life Is Better"

thubmnail icon: New Q-Tip (Feat. Norah Jones) - "Life Is Better"

This slinky funk, sample-stitched new song from Q-Tip is pretty much the jam. "Life Is Better" features Norah Jones, she of cool covers and platinum wigged fame, singing the track's main motif as if she's already years deep in the new soul/hip-hop-hook racket. Actually it's NoJo's first second such collab, and she sorta dominates the playing time with Kamaal backing her up (after two minutes) with just one long verse. It's a good one, though, and might give you an idea why the LA Times is calling his new album The Renaissance Tip's best work since Tribe's Midnight Marauders (they said it).

Vamp-y, cool. The Renaissance is out Election Day (tomorrow, people) via Universal Motown. Other guests include Raphael Saadiq, J Dilla, and D'Angelo. Hear the Dilla-collab "Gettin' Up" at MySpace. Q-Tip The Vote.

Posted at 11:32 AM by amrit
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5 Comments

Good song, but "Gettin' Up" is a FANTASTIC song.

Posted by: B at 11/03/08 12:12 PM | Reply
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Norah Jones did the hook on a Talib Kweli song last year as well, "Soon The New Day"....

Posted by: mandy at 11/03/08 12:50 PM | Reply
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You can stream the whole album here...
http://www.thefader.com/articles/2008/10/30/exclusive-stream-q-tip-s-the-renaissance

Posted by: G at 11/03/08 4:53 PM | Reply
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Actually, NoJo's indie rap cred started back in '04 when she hooked up with Andre 3000 on The Love Below (remember "Take off Your Cool"?). He introduced her to Kweli, who introduced her to Q-Tip.

Posted by: internet gangsta at 12/05/08 11:36 AM | Reply
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that song with andre 3000 of outkast actually came out in 2003, not 2004. so she has that, this q-tip song, the talib kweli song, as well as a hip-hop-flavored collab with mike patton on his peeping tom album from a few years back.

Posted by: howisya at 01/21/09 9:54 AM | Reply
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