The Abstract + Yeezus

When Kanye West and Q-Tip get together there are no shortage of folklore-worthy memories. After bringing out Ye the summer after the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (which Q-Tip contributed heavily to) at a festival performance in Brooklyn (pictured to the right), Q-Tip announced his official signing to G.O.O.D. Music, and his new album, The Last Zulu–which he re-iterates in the following interview is still the title of his upcoming LP–and has since remained in the public spotlight collaborating with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Busta Rhymes, and performing alongside Phife Dawg as ATCQ for reportedly the last time in Brooklyn last month. The Abstract has a joint mixtape with Busta Rhymes coming out in a week’s time, and maintains his album is still coming, but a week after Ye announced he wanted his new album to be out in summer 2014, Q-Tip has revealed an exciting tidbit about the LP during a The Truth session with Elliott Wilson on Jay Z’s Life & Times website.

“I’m producing Kanye’s new album with Rick Rubin”.

Rick Rubin was called in to help get Kanye’s last album, Yeezus, ready for its June 18th release date, but Q-Tip has worked with and alongside Kanye for the better part of the past decade, and its public knowledge that Yeezy fashioned a large majority of his catalog based on the sound and movemennt A Tribe Called Quest inspired. The two have worked together on songs like “Chain Heavy” and most recently, Busta Rhymes new single, “Thank You”. Q-Tip and Rick Rubin engineering a Kanye West LP? We think it’ll be dope. You can watch the entire Q-Tip x Elliott Wilson conversation below, but skip to the 8-minute mark to get straight to the details about this story.

-Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)