Q-TIP (1999)

''I got a whole new approach to rhyming,'' this hip-hop innovator claims at the start of his first solo CD. It's no idle boast: While he doesn't always attain the effortless aural ecstasy of his former group, A Tribe Called Quest, you'd be hard pressed to find more creativity on a rap album, from scrambling-for-a-dictionary lyrical flow and jazzbo guitars to Princely studio tricks (he even enlists Korn for some goth-metal flavor). More importantly, Amplified confirms that he can still kick it, even without his ex-bandmates. A-

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