hiphop/rap & acid-jazz (however you want to define that) have long
been intertwined with each other...without jazz no acid or hip hop..
many years ago (1990) i wrote an article in the uk's hip hop connection
about the connection between jazz and rap/hip hop...and for want of a
better term (trip hop hadnt been invented yet & i was working for a
mr peterson at talkin' loud by then) i called it jazzrap. which was
loosely defined & came from rappers using jazz musicians such as at
the time the cookie crew i believe
were using roy ayers on their album, and gangstarr (as they were at
the time) doin jazz thing, and stetsasonic 'talkin all that
jazz'...public enemy had used one of the marsalis brothers sax solo
on the b side of a dj promo..and hiphop that uses jazz breaks still
cut it for me in terms of vibes altho i will
confess to being old skool enough to liking the beastie boys & run dmc 2. they
all have their place in my collection.
where i think lines get confused is the media portrayal of what
hiphop/rap music is, and what lifestyle it represents. it not only
disturbs me from the public percetion (oooh they're wearing rap
clothes, they're gonna rob us) to the govt (recent FCC scenarious
with various rappers as reported in last weeks rapstation news) to
how the mainstream music industry are continuing to do what they've
done since the days of chess records, atlantic, and even if i can be
so bold as to say motown in terms of commercialising the music and
making it a package for the mainstream.
at the end of the day its down to everyone to keep their minds open about
all sorts of music....why only last night i caught drum n bass dj fabio
praising the 'talents' of destiny's child on radio one, fabios point
was about finding the good (ie they can sing as opposed to other pop
performers we wont mention who lip sinc at their $75-$150 ticket
shows)
in every thing you hear....
btw: these are personal not ninjatune opinions, but if you want to hear
some fish fry ragga boombass funk yo face innit rap slap hip hop, you
can do no wrong by checking roots manuva's 'witness (1 hope)...
the video is now up (only in real)
on http://www.ninjatune.net or at nme.com in the hip hop section.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Jul 14 2001 - 19:57:34 CEST