Q-Tip will release his long-awaited second solo album The Renaissance this September on Universal Motown. The follow-up to 1999’s Amplified is a mix of summer jams, club bangers, and introspective songs, which combines live instrumentation and samples.

Norah Jones is featured on “Life is Better” and Barack Obama’s voice can be heard on the intro track “Shaka.” The A Tribe Called Quest front man also collaborated with D’Angelo and Raphael Saadiq.

“I had to wait until the time was right. If I put it out a couple of years ago, it wouldn’t have been right. But now you have people like Santogold, Kanye West, Lupe [Fiasco], Common. It seems like it’s a bit more in tune with what I’m doing,” Q-Tip tells the Los Angeles Times on the album’s constant setbacks.

The Harlem-born MC has plans to release his Kamaal the Abstract album around Christmas and then head back to the studio in early 2009 with British producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, and Travis) to record a new album.

Source: Los Angeles Times