Black Thought has been considered by many to be among the best emcees of all time, but after his incredible ‘freestyles’ on the Shade 45 Dilla tribute recently, many hip-hop heads bowed down and gave him the crown as THE greatest.  Even Q-Tip was at a loss for words when it came his time to grab the mic.  While this has been floating around the net for a bit, here’s our exclusive mix of the session, with some of the levels raised (including bass) and mastered properly.  I edited out Tony Toca (sorry pal) and everything flows perfectly.  Enjoy raw emceeing at its finest over Dilla beats.

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Earlier this week, Talib Kweli became the latest hip-hop icon to be celebrated at Peter Rosenberg’s interview/concert series, Noisemakers.  Previous featured Noisemakers guests include DJ Premier, Questlove, Q-Tip and Raekwon.  If you’re not familiar with the event by now, Rosenberg accurately describes it as the hip-hop Inside The Actor’s Studio, featuring an in-depth interview and live sets by Daru Jones and The Noise performing impeccable live interpretations of Kweli’s vast catalog.  What makes Noisemakers so enthralling is that this is not just any standard interview, but rather an engaging hip-hop conversation.  Kweli shared tons of stories ranging from his childhood up through the current day including his first encounters with Dilla, Kanye West, Hi Tek, Corey Smith, Common and many other central figures in hip-hop.  He also told some hilarious stories about Kanye West and also there’s a brief cameo by Q-Tip.  Check after the jump for audio of the entire evening, including the complete interview and live performance sets, plus a few videos.

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The Roots & Common made the final stop on their Hennessy Artistry tour in New York City at Terminal 5 last week.  With special guests joining them in each city of the tour, the crowd knew we were in for something special being in the Mecca of hip-hop.  Among the many surprise guests, legendary emcees were in the house as Q-Tip joined The Roots on stage, followed by Queen Latifah to close out the show.  Here’s some fantastic soundboard audio of these moments.

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Q-Tip took the stage at the Oustide Lands Festival in San Francisco yesterday afternoon and gave what was definitely one of the better performances of the festival.  Tip always has a ton of energy when he performs, and when you have the entire Tribe catalog at your disposal, its guaranteed to be a dope show.  Phife Dawg also made a surprise appearance during “Award Tour”.  As usual, his extended live version of “Electric Relaxation” is always one of the highlights of the set.  Full setlist and MP3/FLAC downloads after the jump.

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Q-Tip was the featured guest at the third installment of Noisemakers, a bimonthly series hosted by Peter Rosenberg which, as he puts it, is a hip-hop version of Inside The Actor’s Studio.  Q-Tip shed insight into his acclaimed career, revealing stories never publically told before including recalling his first experience listening to J-Dilla, the origins of A Tribe Called Quest and the Native Tongues movement, his hilarious encounter with Miles Davis, Busta Rhymes nearly becoming a member of Tribe, and many more (the whole event is well over 2 hours long).  Questlove was in the building and joined in the discussions towards the end of the interview.  Also included for your listening pleasure is The Cypher’s tribute sets to Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest.  The 5-piece band, anchored by Daru Jones on drums, absolutely nailed the interpretations of the songs and their sets were amazing.  Questlove even hopped on twitter to say “The Cypher might be the illest hip-hop band.  It would behoove any emcee already established to scoop em now… their attention to sample detail is to a level and standard that I don’t even set!” Those are pretty strong words coming from the mighty afro considering its unanimously viewed that The Roots are top dog in that space. Fans of hip-hop, or music in general…. you need to hear this.

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This was arguably the best concert I went to in 2007… Robert Glasper, Chris Dave, Derrick Hodge, Casey Benjamin (collectively, the RCDC Experiment) with guests Mos Def, Q-Tip and Bilal.  The loose vibe of the show created a dope atmosphere and everyone on the stage killed.  Q-Tip asked Mos, who was enjoying the show in the crowd, to come on stage and kick a freestyle and of course he obliged.  Hit the jump to hear two of the best emcees trading verses back and forth.

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