Q-Tip was born Jonathan William Davis on April 10, 1970, in Harlem, New York City.^[12] His father, Jonathan Davis II, emigrated from the Caribbeanisland of Montserrat and was raised in Cleveland.^[13] His mother is an African American from Alabama.^[14] When he was a child, his family settled in St. Albans, Queens, New York City.^[1] He first met his friend Phife Dawg at church when they were both two years old.^[15] At age nine, he began rapping after being encouraged by Phife Dawg; shortly before that, they both heard "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang for the first time.^[16] He was also inspired by his father's extensive jazz record collection, and at age 12, he began to DJ and make pause tape beats.^[1]

Q-Tip attended Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, where he first befriended Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Afrika Baby Bam and Mike Gee, with the latter two forming the hip-hop group Jungle Brothers.^[15] In high school, he participated in rap battles and went by the stage names J Nice and MC Love Child.^[1][17] In 1985, he and Muhammad formed an MC and DJ duo, and using recording equipment provided by Muhammad's uncle, they began making demos.^[1] They were later joined by Phife Dawg, who also rapped, and neighborhood friend Jarobi White; collectively, they were known as Quest.^[15]

When Q-Tip was 16 years old, his father died of emphysema.^[13]

Afrika Baby Bam gave him the nickname "Q-Tip", which became popular in high school, eventually becoming his stage name.^[17] In 1988, Q-Tip was featured on Jungle Brothers' songs "The Promo", which he helped produce,^[1] and "Black Is Black", in which he renamed his group A Tribe Called Quest, a name that was given by Afrika Baby Bam.^[15] Both songs appeared on Jungle Brothers' debut album, Straight out the Jungle. That year, the two groups met the like-minded group De La Soul, with the three groups forming the core of the Native Tongues collective, known for their Afrocentrism, positivity and eclectic sampling.^[18]

In 1989, A Tribe Called Quest signed with Jive Records after being rejected by several labels, due to their unconventional image and sound.^[19]After recording several demos, they began working on their debut album, with Q-Tip serving as the group's main producer.^[20] During this period, Q-Tip began using the E-mu SP-1200 and Akai S950 samplers.^[17][21] The album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, was released in early 1990 and established Q-Tip as a highly skilled lyricist.^[22] Later that year, he made a guest appearance on the house single "Groove Is in the Heart" by Deee-Lite, which became a worldwide hit.^[4]

In 1991, A Tribe Called Quest released their second album, The Low End Theory. Wanting the group to "step it up in general", Q-Tip encouraged Phife Dawg, who had recently become diabetic, to stay with the group and increase his participation.^[23] The result was the "smoothest" rapping "of any rap record ever heard", due to the duo's strong chemistry.^[24] The group also garnered acclaim for Q-Tip's jazzy minimalist production.^[22][24]

The following year, Q-Tip was involved in a fight with new jack swing group Wreckx-n-Effect, over Phife Dawg's lyrics on the single "Jazz (We've Got)".^[23] As a result, it is believed that the ski mask that Q-Tip wore, in A Tribe Called Quest's video for the single "Hot Sex", was covering up his injuries.^[23]

By 1993, Q-Tip became known for his outside production work, producing the hit single "Gangsta Bitch" by Apache, among other songs.^[25] The song's chorus was performed by Tupac Shakur in the film Poetic Justice, in which Q-Tip made his acting debut as Janet Jackson's love interest.^[26] Later that year, A Tribe Called Quest released their third album, Midnight Marauders, which was hailed as the group's most complete work.^[27] Along with his "practically telepathic" lyrical interplay with Phife Dawg, the album introduced Q-Tip's gritty style of production.^[1][28]

After two critically acclaimed platinum-selling albums with his group,^[18] Q-Tip began focusing on outside production. In 1994, he produced the single "One Love" from Nas's debut album Illmaticand performed the song's chorus.^[23] He also remixed the Nas single "The World Is Yours", as well as Craig Mack's single "Get Down", in which he contributed a guest verse. He made an additional guest appearance on the song "Get It Together" by Beastie Boys, from their album Ill Communication.^[4]

Film director Spike Lee asked Q-Tip to produce the single "Crooklyn" for the soundtrack to his 1994 film of the same name.^[29] Q-Tip helped Lee recruit three Brooklyn MCs for the song: Special Ed, Masta Ace and Buckshot, who formed the group Crooklyn Dodgers.^[29]

During that year's Lollapalooza, keyboardist Amp Fiddler introduced Q-Tip to young Detroitproducer Jay Dee, who gave Q-Tip a demo tape of his group Slum Village.^[30] After being impressed by Jay Dee's beats, Q-Tip suggested that the two work together.^[1] By 1995, Q-Tip, Jay Dee and Muhammad formed a production team, known as The Ummah, in which each member produced songs individually and received a songwriting credit for their work.^[17][2] He and Muhammad also created a label, Museum Music, with Vinia Mojica becoming their first artist.^[23]

Queens duo Mobb Deep, whom Q-Tip discovered in the early 1990s,^[31] enlisted him as a mixing engineer and producer for their 1995 album The Infamous.^[32][33] He also contributed a verse to the song "Drink Away the Pain (Situations)".^[34]

In 1996, The Ummah's production first appeared on Busta Rhymes's debut album, The Coming, with Q-Tip producing and rapping on the song "Ill Vibe", while Jay Dee produced the other two Ummah productions on the album.^[35] That summer, A Tribe Called Quest released their fourth album, Beats, Rhymes and Life, which was produced by The Ummah. Although Q-Tip was involved in the album's production, he considered the album a "showcase" for Jay Dee,^[36] who produced both of the singles, "1nce Again" and "Stressed Out", along with three other songs. Q-Tip also added his younger cousin Consequenceas a guest rapper on six songs.^[2] Much of the album's lyrical themes were inspired by Q-Tip's recent conversion to Islam; however, his relationship with Phife Dawg became strained, negatively affecting their lyrical chemistry.^[2] Q-Tip also became an A&R for Motown Records and signed Consequence to Museum Music.^[23]

The following year, he made a guest appearance on Janet Jackson's single "Got 'til It's Gone" and co-produced Mariah Carey's single "Honey", both of which became worldwide hits.^[4][23] In early 1998, a fire completely destroyed Q-Tip's home recording studio; among the items destroyed in the blaze were his entire record collection, consisting of nearly 20,000 vinyl records, and a computer containing many unreleased songs.^[1][37][38] The fire delayed the release of A Tribe Called Quest's fifth album, The Love Movement, pushing the release date from May to September of that year.^[37] Produced by The Ummah, the album explored the lyrical theme of love; however, A Tribe Called Quest disbanded a month before the album's release.^[39][40]