Q-Tip recently sat down with Billboard to talk about becoming the latest artist to have his own radio show on Apple Music's Beats 1 called Abstract Radio, which will air at 10 p.m. EDT this Friday.

Besides announcing that bit of news, the G.O.O.D. rapper gave an update on his solo project, The Last Zulu, which follows 2008’s The Renaissance. He’s been keeping busy though. In December 2013, he teamed up with Busta Rhymes to release a free mixtape called The Abstract And the Dragon, which featured his mega collaboration “Thank You” with Kanye West and Lil Wayne.

Read some excerpts of the interview and head over to Billboard for the whole thing, as well as Q-Tip’s enlightening thoughts on the Charleston shootings.

On the status of The Last Zulu:

Yeah man, I'm putting the finishing touches on it now. I'm really excited about it. Marsha Ambrosius and I have been writing, we have Beck, and talking to Fiona Apple, and some other singers — they're all going to be singing the choruses. You know how on the old records back in the day, if you're listening to "Young Americans," you know Bowie had Luther Vandross and he had Nona Hendryx singing background on a couple records. They won't be featured, but you'll be able to listen to the songs and pick out their tones, which is important for me. I'm also doing the album in different languages. I'm doing it in Spanish and French and Portuguese.

On working with Kanye West and dispelling the rumors of Swish being scrapped:

Yeah, Rick and I were gonna do the record, and Kanye went through different phases musically, so we've yet to reconnect on his project. We've met a few times and he's kept me up to speed here and there on what's happening. He's done the same with my record. We've been talking about some ideas for my record as well. We're still in step. It's not like [Kanye] scrapped any of it, that's a rumor.

I'm excited [about Last Zulu]. The sound is, it's hard to describe, but I'm just excited about music. I feel like I haven't even peaked. I'm just hoping that I can have people join me on my little insights, know what I mean? I'm just appreciative of all those who have up to this point. I'm early in my appreciation for those who are joining for the first time. I'm just excited, I'm excited that you know, the people at your institution at Billboard have supported me, and supported all the things that I'm doing. I think it's an exciting time.

I think that we're in a crossroads in many ways, not only as a nation but in the world. With all the funky things that are happening, I think that the last frontier to me is music, I'm just blessed that I've been able to contribute that way. Hopefully it will continue. Hopefully I'll continue to do so in the same impactful way.

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