Q-Tip joins Kennedy Center as hip-hop director

Fresh off last year’s well-received performance by Kendrick Lamar with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday, March 8, that veteran rapper and producer Q-Tip will join the institution as its artistic director for hip-hop culture.

The center, which is a memorial to President John F. Kennedy and the nation’s busiest performing arts venue, also will mark the 100th anniversary of Kennedy’s birth with programming that honors his ideals and legacy.

Q-Tip is a founding member of the seminal hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, known for its genre-bending music and socially conscious lyrics.

In recorded comments, Q-Tip said he looked forward to bringing relevant content to the nation’s largest performing arts venue that explores issues including racism, misogyny and poverty.

Jazz trumpeter and composer Terrence Blanchard will take up a yearlong residency at the center, with programming that includes the East Coast premiere of “Champion,” an “opera in jazz” he co-wrote with Michael Christopher.