Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (born April 10, 1970), better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American hip hop artist, producer, singer, and occasional actor from Queens, New York City, perhaps best known as part of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest.

Q-Tip was born Jonathan Davis in Harlem, New York. His father was from Montserrat. His mother is from Alabama. He attended Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, New York. He converted to Islam in the mid-1990s, and changed his name to Kamaal Ibn John Fareed. The Q in Q-Tip's stage name stands for Queens, the borough of New York City from which he hails. ^{[citation needed]} On Martha Stewart he said his name Q-tip was his childhood nickname because he was skinny and had big hair.

Q-Tip has been a resident of Englewood, New Jersey. He is cousins with Consequence.

Production

Besides performing with his popular and successful jazz-influenced hip hop group, Q-Tip also did production work (under his production alias the Abstract or often—along with fellow Tribe member Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the late Slum Village member Jay Dee—as part of The Ummah) for artists such as Nas ("One Love", from Illmatic, 1994), Mobb Deep (co-producer on "Give up the Goods (Just Step)", "Temperature's Rising", and "Drink Away the Pain", from The Infamous, 1995) and R&B singers Mariah Carey ("Honey", from Butterfly, 1997) and Whitney Houston ("Fine", from Whitney: The Greatest Hits).

Solo career

A Tribe Called Quest disbanded in 1998, after which Q-Tip pursued a solo career. His first solo singles, "Vivrant Thing" and "Breathe & Stop", were far more pop-oriented than anything he had done in A Tribe Called Quest, as was his solo debut LP for Arista Records, Amplified. His 2002 follow-up, Kamaal/The Abstract, although critically acclaimed and issued a catalog number, wasn't released at that time because the label believed that it did not have commercial appeal. However, it has been confirmed that the album finally will be released by Battery Records in 2009.

A Tribe Called Quest reunited in 2006 and played a limited number of dates. The group was composed of its original lineup, including Q-Tip and occasional member Jarobi White. Early the next year, Q-Tip signed a new solo deal with Motown/Universal Records.

As of late, Q-Tip has been very active, once again happily reunited with the full line-up of A Tribe Called Quest on the 2K7 NBA Bounce Tour, Rock the Bells Tour '08, and regaining control of his previously label-owned MySpace page. He has announced that he is negotiating for the ownership of the masters of earlier material from his previous labels and plans to release them independently.

His latest album The Renaissance was released on November 4, 2008 through Universal Motown. He is set to release his 2001 unreleased album titled Kamaal/The Abstract under Battery Records on September 15, 2009. Q-Tip is confirmed to play the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans over the 2009 Halloween weekend.

Fareed regularly acts as a disc jockey, most notably at Santos Party House where he hosts a weekly residency called OPEN. At Paper Magazine's 2008 Nightlife Awards, OPEN was named "Best DJ Night."

• 1999: Amplified
• 2008: The Renaissance
• 2009: Kamaal/The Abstract

• 1993: Poetic Justice
• 1999: Love Goggles
• 2000: Disappearing Acts
• 2001: Prison Song
• 2002: Brown Sugar
• 2004: She Hate Me
• 2009: High Rollers

• Official website
• Q-Tip (rapper) on Twitter
• Q-Tip at MySpace
• Q-Tip 'Blues & Soul' interview by Pete Lewis December 2008
• Q-Tip (rapper) at Discogs
• Q-Tip at the Internet Movie Database
• Q-Tip from the Pit at TheGrixer.com
• Q-Tip at Artst Guild & Gallery
• Village Voice interview
• Four questions with Q-Tip from lasvegasweekly.com