Jazz rap
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Jazz rap | |
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Other names | Jazz hip hop, jazz hop |
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Late 1980s, United States, Canada and United Kingdom |
Derivative forms |
Jazz rap (also jazz hop or jazz hip hop) is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre,[1] that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter." The rhythm was rooted in hip hop[1] over which were placed repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation: trumpet, double bass, etc. Groups involved in the formation of jazz rap included A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, The Roots, Jungle Brothers, and Dream Warriors.[1]
Overview
During the 1970s, The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron placed spoken word and rhymed poetry over jazzy backing tracks.[2] There are also parallels between jazz and the improvised phrasings of freestyle rap. Despite these disparate threads, jazz rap did not coalesce as a genre until the late 1980s.
At this time, the jazz community saw a stark divide, with some retaining interest in traditional styles while others embraced newer forms like smooth jazz. This period also marked a significant shift in jazz's cultural positioning, elevating it to a status akin to "serious art music." Influential figures like Wynton Marsalis played a pivotal role in this transformation, advocating for a return to traditional jazz values.[3]
Jazz rap's emergence can be seen as an attempt to elevate rap music's status by associating it with jazz's
History
In 1989, Gang Starr released the debut single "Words I Manifest", sampling Dizzy Gillespie's 1952 "Night in Tunisia", and Stetsasonic released "Talkin' All That Jazz", sampling Lonnie Liston Smith. Gang Starr's debut LP, No More Mr. Nice Guy (Wild Pitch, 1989), and their track "Jazz Thing" (CBS, 1990) for the soundtrack of Mo' Better Blues, further popularized the jazz rap style. In 1992 Eric B & Rakim used wood bass on "Don't Sweat the Technique".[5]
Also in 1993,
Post WWII swing and modern jazz had fused with the introduction of
Native Tongues
Groups making up the collective known as the
Also of this period was Toronto-based Dream Warriors' 1991 release And Now the Legacy Begins (Island). It produced the hit singles "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" and "Wash Your Face in My Sink". The first of these was based on a loop taken from Quincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova", while the second sampled Count Basie's 1967 rendition of "Hang On Sloopy". Meanwhile, Los Angeles hip hop group Freestyle Fellowship pursued a different route of jazz influence in recordings with unusual time signatures and scat-influenced vocals.[13]
Jazz artists come to hip hop
Though jazz rap had achieved little mainstream success, jazz legend Miles Davis' final album (released posthumously in 1992), Doo-Bop, featured hip hop beats and collaborations with producer Easy Mo Bee.[14] Jazz musician Branford Marsalis collaborated with Gang Starr's DJ Premier on his Buckshot LeFonque project that same year. Between 1993 and 2000 fellow Gang Starr member Guru released Jazzmatazz, which featured guest appearances from jazz artists such as Lonnie Liston Smith, Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd, amongst others.
Since 1994
Musical jazz references became less obvious and less sustained, and lyrical references to jazz certainly more rare.[15] However, jazz had been added to the palette of hip hop producers, and its influence continued throughout the 1990s whether behind the gritty street-tales of Nas (Illmatic, Columbia, 1994), or backing the more bohemian sensibilities of acts such as The Roots, The Nonce, and Common. Since 2000 it can be detected in the work of producers such as J. Rawls, Nujabes, Fat Jon, Madlib, Kero One, and the English duo The Herbaliser. A project somewhat similar to Buckshot Le Fonque was Brooklyn Funk Essentials, a New York–based collective who also released their first LP in 1994. Prince himself contributed to the genre on some songs from 1991 to 1992, as well as with his New Power Generation album Gold Nigga, which mixed jazz, funk and hip-hop and was released very confidentially.
One hip hop project which continued to maintain a direct connection to jazz was Guru's Jazzmatazz series, which used live jazz musicians in the studio.[16] Spanning from 1993 to 2007, its four volumes assembled jazz luminaries like Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, Courtney Pine, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Garrett and Lonnie Liston Smith, and hip hop performers such as Kool Keith, MC Solaar, Common, and Guru's Gang Starr colleague DJ Premier.
Madlib's 2003 release
In 2006, Bay Area producer/rapper Kero One independently released a jazz and funk influenced hiphop album named Windmills of the Soul, which stood out for infusing live saxophone, jazz guitar, electric piano, and other instruments with dusty samples and compelling lyrics, eventually selling over 30,000 copies worldwide and playing heavy rotation on college radio stations worldwide.[18][19]
In September 2014, Statik Selektah released his album What Goes Around with a notable jazz rap influence, unique among the actual rap atmosphere. Another recent jazz rap talent producer is Beats by the Pound (also known as The Medicine Men). In February 2015, Canadian jazz band Badbadnotgood released 'Sour Soul' with Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ghostface Killah. A month later, Kendrick Lamar released To Pimp a Butterfly, which incorporates jazz, funk, and spoken word.[20] In 2015, Irish rapper Kojaque released a series of jazz rap instrumentals on SoundCloud.[21]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Jazz-Rap Music Genre Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ^ "Gil Scott-Heron, Spoken-Word Musician, Dies at 62". The New York Times. 28 May 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- JSTOR 1214987.
- ISSN 0277-9269.
- ^ Eric B & Rakim Don't Sweat the Technique allmusic Retrieved 14 March 2024
- ^ "The Victoria Advocate - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ US Hot 100 Billboard Retrieved 14 May 2024
- ^ "Durst, Albert Lavada", Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ Hilmes, M. (1997). Radio Voices: American Broadcasting, 1922-1952. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, p. 272-3.
- ISBN 978-1-4628-1993-5
- ^ "Exhibition Traces Development of Hip hop". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at news.google.com. 19 December 2000. p. 26. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ^ "The 10 Best Jazz Rap Albums To Own On Vinyl — Vinyl Me, Please". Vinylmeplease.com. 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
- ^ Hunt, Dennis (June 29, 1993). "Liberating Rap With Jazz Sound : Freestyle Fellowship Adds Riffs to Rhymes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
- ^ Aldrich, Steve. "Doo-Bop". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- .
- ^ "Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 > Overview". allmusic.com. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
- ^ "Madlib: Shades of Blue". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
- ^ Winnig, Brolin (March 31, 2006). "Kero One Windmills Of The Soul". XLR8R. Retrieved February 1, 2006.
- ^ Woodman-Nance, Emily (March 19, 2010). "KUCI". Retrieved March 19, 2010.
- ^ Weiss, Dan (March 20, 2015). "Review: Kendrick Lamar Returns With the Great American Hip-Hop Album, 'To Pimp a Butterfly'". Spin. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
- ^ "Kojaque | Plec Picks 2019 • GoldenPlec".