The busy life of hip-hop royalty shows no signs of slowing down. After Kanye West announced in November that he is to record a new album, which he expects to release next summer, Q-Tip has now said that he, alongside Rick Rubin, will produce the collection.
Q-Tip's influential conscious hip-hop outfit A Tribe Called Quest played the New York City dates of West's Yeezus tour – which Q-Tip said would be the band's final shows. In a video interview for Jay Z's Life + Times website, filmed during the group's visit to the city, the rapper told interviewer Elliott Wilson that he and Rubin would be producing West's next album. Q-Tip contributed to West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Rubin worked on Yeezus.
In other Life + Times news, Jay Z has announced he is going vegan, albeit only for 22 days. "On December 3rd, one day before my 44th birthday, I will embark on a 22-day challenge to go completely vegan, or as I prefer to call it, plant based!! This all began a few months back when a good friend and vegan challenged me to embrace a 'plant-based breakfast' every day. It was surprisingly easier on me than I thought," Jay Z wrote.
"Why now? There's something spiritual to me about it being my 44th birthday, and the serendipity behind the number of days in this challenge – 22 (2+2=4) – coupled with the fact that the challenge ends on Christmas day … It just feels right!
"So you can call it a spiritual and physical cleanse. I will post my progress … Any professional vegans out there that have any great food spots please help out! … I don't know what happens after Christmas. A semi-vegan [or] a full plant-based diet? Or just a spiritual and physical challenge? We'll see … "
In a postscript, Jay Z added that his wife, Beyoncé, would join him on the diet.
