All About Laughs
As the world turns, so does the circle of life. Rapper Q-Tip is seeing this firsthand as he’s gone from being taken care of by his dear mother, to now being her primary caregiver.
In 1970, Jonathan William Davis aka Q-Tip was born to his father, Jonathan Davis II, and his mother. Sadly, he would lose his father to a battle with emphysema when he was at the age of 16. He would go on to be one of the founding members of the legendary Hip-Hop group A Tribe Called Quest.
Several gold and platinum-certified albums later, the group rose with phenomenal success. With Q-tip also being at the production helm, the group would achieve successful hits worldwide like “Bonita Applebaum”, “Can I Kick It”, and “Award Tour” to name a few.
World tours, award nominations and wins, and more success couldn’t keep the group together as feuds begun to arise and would ultimately cause the group to separate. The iconic would eventually put their differences aside and regroup to record their final album, “We Got It From Here… Thanks 4 Your Service.”
More loss would reach Q-Tip’s door once again in 2016 when his childhood friend and group member Phife Dawg passed away from complications with diabetes. His death occurred in the middle of recordings for the album, but they continued to push through in order to complete the album as promised.
The group’s reign may sadly be over, but Q-Tip remains active. His long-delayed solo album “The Last Zulu” is said to be releasing finally, as well as continued production work. Although the group is over, he told NME that he has no plans on stopping.
“I ain’t stopping. I am too talented. I will do this to my death,” said Q-Tip. “I am going to be like James Brown or Louis Armstrong or Prince; they did music until they couldn’t do it anymore and were gone. In my final days, I will still be doing this. I don’t believe in retiring. I will probably keel over my drum machine. I’m 48 now, which, I guess, means I’m only half-way done!”
He may not be stopping, but he may definitely be slowing down a bit as he revealed that he’s now taking care of his mother, who is suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Indeed, a rough time for anyone going through or witnessing it.
According to a study from the Alzheimer’s Association, “Alzheimer’s disease is more prevalent among African-Americans than among whites — with estimates ranging from 14% to almost 100% higher.”
While revealing to the world his mother’s current battles, he shared that he would be dedicating an episode of his Abstract Radio show on Beats 1 to her. “Whatup world! This weekend on Abstract Radio I’ll be doing a special show dedicating it to my mother,“ he shared in an Instagram post. “My mother suffers from dementia and alzheimers, so I’m gonna be playing a lot of her favorite songs and stuff.”
He also extended his dedication to all others that suffer from dementia and their families. “So I hope this show has been inspirational to you,” he continued before adding, “And Mom – I love you so much, and this show is not enough to express that.”
