B-Sides Jazz Rap
Fusing The Past And The Present
“The so-called jazz hip hop movement is about bringing jazz back to the streets. It got taken away, made into some elite, sophisticated music. It’s bringing jazz back where it belongs.”
- Guru, 1994 interview for Vibe
Jazz Rap, or Jazz-Hop, was born in an era where jazz was becoming high art in the public eye. Increasingly, the form had been associated with affluence and legitimacy in advertising and fashion. One of the most influential artists in this trend was Wynton Marsalis, who was the first artist to win Grammys in jazz and classical music in the same year. Jazz began to have a permanent place in concert halls, and Marsalis was a steady, forthright champion for jazz as “serious music” — dismissing pop and hip-hop music in the process. But while he was elevating jazz to its highest form, hip hop artists were breaking it down and re-using it in new and exciting ways.
Hip hop artists were constantly re-inventing music of the past through turntables, samplers, and mixers. In fact, jazz and hip-hop share many similarities in their origins. Both were born as products of African American innovation, started as dance music, and improvisation was seen as a sign of authenticity. In jazz, being technical wasn’t enough — cutting contests between two musicians was a path to respect, much like freestyling and battle rap are sure signs of being “real”. Due to these similarities, many early hip hop artists had jazz as a strong influence, in their family or in their previous careers. Most recognizable is Olu Dara, the father of Nas. Rakim (of Eric B & Rakim fame) was a sax player.
Jazz-Hop began picking up in underground and even mainstream communities, with Miles Davis’ posthumous album “Doo-Bop” featuring collaborations with hip hop producer Easy Mo Bee. By 1993, a plethora of jazz rap artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, Jungle Brothers, Gang Starr, and De La Soul had cemented the genre’s place and influence on music.
Following are three tracks that help trace the history of Jazz Rap.
Words I Manifest
No early era hip hop artist made better use of jazz than Gang Starr. In 1989, rapper Guru from Boston came together with DJ Premier in Houston to start a 9-year collaboration that would produce a much respected catalog of hip hop, much of which employed jazz samples as primary melodies.
The first single ever released by Gang Starr, “Words I Manifest”, is as exemplary of Jazz Rap of any track of the early period, making prominent use of the bass line in the Dizzy Gillespie classic, “A Night in Tunisia”.
Some of Gang Starr’s other well-distributed works would include the tracks,“Jazz Thing”, as featured on the soundtrack of the 1990 movie “Mo Better Blues” and “Battle” which appeared in the 2002 movie “8 Mile”.
As an aside, “A Night in Tunisia” is a true jazz standard originally written in the early 1940s, but performed in some form by just about every jazz musician at some point over the last 70 years. Two very good (and contrasting) performances can be found below:
The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)
Picking just one jazz-hop track from the mid-nineties is like picking your favorite child, except you have hundreds to choose from. But with any large family, there’s bound to be a few that stand out; there’s at least a couple that don’t really fit in. The Black Sheep as it were.
When Dres and Mista Lawnge formed Black Sheep in 1989, the jazz rap scene was still in its infancy. The Jungle Brothers released “Straight Out the Jungle”, Stetsasonic just dropped “Talkin’ All that Jazz” and Gang Starr opened the floodgates with “No More Mr. Nice Guy”. There was no looking back. Groups like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul flourished and even created collectives like the Native Tongues to solidify the subgenre’s identity. Black Sheep, true to its name, was merely an affiliate member. In fact, when many think about jazz rap, they usually refer to Tribe, De La, Digable, etc. Black Sheep usually gets left out of the conversation.
It should be noted that even though the duo’s body of work was significant, a single track, “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)” should warrant the inclusion of Black Sheep when it comes to talking about jazz rap. The music that Dres and Lawnge created was more esoteric than the rest of the alternative hip-hop acts, but they also injected a kind of raw energy that none of the rest possessed. “The Choice…” is an excellent example of this, and if you can wipe your mind clean of dancing hamsters, you’ll find that you’re listening to one of the finest examples of jazz-influenced hip-hop.
Lady Brown
Nujabes feat. Cise Starr
Seba Jun is one of the most acclaimed hip hop producers, hailing all the way from Japan. His debut solo album, “Metaphorical Music”, samples a bevy of different artists, including a jazz staple from Miles Davis. Nujabes is one of the best at creating atmospheric, compassionate music, and invites collaborators to spit over his beats.
The crossover appeal of Nujabes’ music is difficult to understate — his distinct take on jazz-hop was used as the score for a popular anime soundtrack. While his technical capacity as a producer may not be at par with some of the greats, there’s an emotionally distinctive sound that defines his music, and listening to his albums in progression shows a dedication in honing that sound and exploring it to its fullest.
