Breathe and Stop

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Q-Tip, "Breathe and Stop" (download until 2/22/09), from "Amplified."

I never happened to get really into A Tribe Called Quest, wrongly feeling I think that I didn't have room in my brain for both De La Soul and these their colleagues, and probably also because while I was really into hip-hop at the time I was into so many other things too, like in 1988 or so especially Ornette Coleman, that I really only approached hip-hop like someone who likes to eat at a different restaurant every night. I enjoy the meal but it's not a staple. It's not a question of like or dislike, but simply of time and space. Both are limited, and so I don't pursue everything deeply. Thus, I never really got into Q-Tip.

I was in the Guitar Center in San Bernardino one afternoon, looking if I remember for a mixing board, a cheap mixing board, and in the room that equipment was in they were playing this song. I was immediately bowled over. There is something one gets in really stellar hip-hop--and while I wouldn't say that this is strictly a legacy of Rakim, Rakim manifests this tendency archetypically--of excellence for excellence's sake. That is to say, "Breathe and Stop" is not, like "Fight the Power" or something like that, going to change the world in an obvious, political way. But what we have here is excellence, and excellence, for a Black man in America, is a political act, among other things. This is why there are so many great rappers. Rapping well, in a country that has since its inception functioned against your humanity, is an assault against the system.

A lot of people who criticize hip-hop as a monolithic enterprise--I know these critics are straw men of a sort, but bear with me--miss this real point. Above all, yes, one can and should call out misogyny. "Breathe and Stop," is not at all, we are clear, however, misogynistic. It's on the surface a seduction piece, a little bit ribald, maybe a lot ribald. Now right there, anyone who would shy away from this is either a hypocrite or a freakish prude. If you've never been seductive, feel free to critique but get yourself quickly to a psychologist. There's no hatred in this rhyme, so it's just fine.

What is interesting, though, and what is radical, is the pairing of the explicit subject matter with the raw excellence of the technique. "We are excellent in all things, at all times," is the implicit message of the piece, the explicit message of which is, "it's nice being in your pants." Both are human experience, and--anti-dualistic thinking is becoming a theme on this blog--this is the point not just of Q-Tip here but of great, real hip-hop. One is great simply because one can be, and one does not compartmentalize one's greatness.