Q-Tip bounces back in sophomore release

Q-Tip “The Renaissance”

(Universal/Motown, •1/2)

Give it up to Q-Tip for tenacity.

As hip-hop’s smoothest rapper – he all but invented the notion of “flow” – Q was only one part of A Tribe Called Quest’s innovations. Their progressive lyricism was as intelligent and abstract as it was socially aware and humorous. Their intuitive ability to integrate live jazz into hip-hop was revolutionary.

How have we repaid Q? By juggling his solo career from label to label and scrapping one record entirely days before its 2002 release.

That his sophomore effort, “The Renaissance,” is here is a miracle. That it’s as charmingly disarming as anything he’s made within Tribe is a bonus. Q-Tip still traffics in liquid, with his divinely watery jazz-hop (with aid from guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel) and his fluid rhyming abilities intact. His lyrics are sensitive and wise as he and duet partner Raphael Saadiq tackle the drama of women and men in wartime on “We Fight/We Love.”

Lest you think this a Quest retread, it ain’t. It’s not as lyrically crowded as Tribe. There are jarring Can samples (“Manwomanboogie”) and twitchy club-a-dub electronics found within “Renaissance’s” Fender-filled atmospheres. Mostly, Q-Tip’s voice sounds more lived-in, with just an edge of doubt.

Maybe he can’t believe this thing finally got released.

– A.D. Amorosi

David Cook “David Cook”

(RCA, •1/2)

David Archuleta

“David Archuleta” (19, •1/2)

Cook and Archuleta faced off last May in the most intriguing “American Idol” finale since season two, when Ruben Studdard edged out Clay Aiken. Six months later, with the release of their debut albums, they’re still running throat and throat.

Cook’s record is a collection of clean, propulsive rockers. His vocal range remains impressive, although to the CD’s detriment, he rarely strays from his Nickelback-based formula. Maybe that’s what makes the ballad “Permanent,” the least guitar-heroic song in the batch, stand out.

Archuleta, he of the sweetly yearning voice and the puppy-dog eyes, delivers a record that is more mature than expected. The opening song, “Crush,” for instance, is a lovely ballad suggestive of a Utah version of Ne-Yo.

Most of the songs on Archuleta’s album have the markings of songwriting pros: middling verses with soaring choruses. A number of tunes such as “You Can” could work on the country charts with only minor retooling.

Archuleta, who was 11 when “American Idol” debuted, grows sappier as the tracks tick by. But there are some perfectly tailored radio songs here

Both singers, in fact, display good commercial instincts. No surprise. It was apparent from the beginning of the “Idol” season that the two Davids had their eyes firmly on the prize.

– David Hiltbrand

T-Pain “Thr33 Ringz”

(Jive, •)

Thanks to T-Pain, everybody on R&B radio sounds like a robot. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the “rapper ternt sanga” Faheem Rasheed Najm is the most loved man in pop music. The auto-tuned vocal style of which he’s the acknowledged master has been overused at this point by everyone from Britney to Kanye. And while it has its soothing qualities, in the wrong hands it’s more soul-killing than soulful.

Tallahassee T-Pain himself, however, is a more amusing and crafty robot than most, as he points out on “Karaoke,” a song on which he returns to his rapping roots to disparage copycats. And throughout “Thr33 Ringz,” the “Ringleader Man” directs his greatest show on earth with aplomb. He makes use of many a guest – on “Change” (a popular title this year), Diddy, Mary J. Blige and Akon turn up, the latter pledging to end violence by turning “every bullet into a Hershey’s kiss” so “we can eat away our fear.” Just to prove that there is a soul within the machine, he turns the auto-tune off on “Keep Going,” and doesn’t sound half bad.

– Dan DeLuca