Maybe the first thing you'll notice is the mood: Q-Tip sounds enthusiastic and vibrant where many other aging conscious rappers have been playing it tense or guarded. This album shows a man infatuated with love and life without sounding maudlin: "Gettin' Up", produced by Q-Tip, takes an old early 1970s Black Ivory single, makes it gleam with modern sheen and lets Tip loose on the kind of love jones you'd expect from a man with 15 years' worth of relationship experience and maturation since "Electric Relaxation". The love-and-war soldier's story "We Fight/We Love" and the abstract sociological breakdown of "Manwomanboogie" couch things in conflict and struggle, but there's always some glimmer of hope and humanity at the core. He even sounds diplomatic when he's being accusatory and frustrated with a lover, as he does on "You": Despite the communication breakdowns, suspicion of infidelity, and admission that all the blame rests on the other party, he still concludes it with a potential reconciliatory gesture: "We'll make amends if you admit it/ We can ascend if you're committed/ Your heart, is it in it?" And when he extends that gratitude and love towards his profession, modestly reaffirming his place in hip-hop in "Johnny Is Dead" or rattling off a catchy chronological list of legends in "Life Is Better", his passion is infectious.A1 Johnny Is Dead 3:12 A2 Won't Trade 2:43 A3 Gettin' Up 4:39 B1 Official 3:45 B2 You 4:27 B3 We Fight/We Love 4:48 C1 Manwomanboogie 5:11 C2 Move 2:50 C3 Dance On Glass 3:01 D1 Life Is Better 4:42 D2 Believe 2:50 D3 Shaka 4:13
