Jazz rap, also called jazz hop or jazz hip-hop, is a type of music that combines jazz and hip hop. It is an alternative style of hip hop that began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to an article on AllMusic, the genre aimed to mix traditional African-American music from the past with the popular hip hop of the time. This helped honor older music styles while also helping hip hop grow. The music uses hip hop rhythms, and on top of these rhythms, repeated jazz sounds from instruments like the trumpet and double bass are added. Some of the groups that helped create jazz rap include A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, and Jungle Brothers.

Overview

In the 1960s and 1970s, the London club scene became a place where people mixed different types of music, including Jazz tracks from the Blue Note collection, which featured American Jazz music. These tracks were combined with rhythmic beats and elements of funk to create a new type of music called acid jazz. By the 1980s, DJs added new techniques to this sound. Collaborations between hip-hop DJs and jazz musicians, such as Herbie Hancock and DJ Grand Mixer D.ST, helped shape this style. Their 1983 song "Rockit" was an important step in the development of jazz rap.

During this time, the jazz community had different opinions. Some people preferred traditional jazz styles, while others supported newer forms like smooth jazz. This period also changed how jazz was viewed in society, helping it become known as "serious art music." Musicians like Wynton Marsalis played an important role by promoting traditional jazz values.

Jazz rap emerged as a way to give rap music more respect by connecting it to jazz's influence. It offered an alternative to popular rap styles like gangsta rap and pop rap. This connection added depth to hip-hop music and allowed artists to discuss important social and political issues, similar to how jazz historically expressed the experiences and struggles of African American communities.

History

In 1989, Gang Starr released their first single, "Words I Manifest," which used music from Dizzy Gillespie's 1952 song "Night in Tunisia." Around the same time, Stetsasonic released "Talkin' All That Jazz," which used music from Lonnie Liston Smith. Gang Starr's first album, No More Mr. Nice Guy (Wild Pitch, 1989), and their song "Jazz Thing" (CBS, 1990), which was part of the Mo' Better Blues soundtrack, helped make jazz rap more popular. In 1992, Eric B & Rakim used a wood bass on their song "Don't Sweat the Technique."

In 1993, Digable Planets released their album Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), which became a successful jazz rap record. The album used music from artists like Don Cherry, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Herbie Mann, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It also produced the hit single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)."

In 1993, Us3 released Hand on the Torch on Blue Note Records. All the music used in the album came from Blue Note's collection. The single "Cantaloop" was Blue Note's first gold record.

After World War II, swing and modern jazz blended because of radio shows that appealed to Black audiences. These shows used slang, rhyming, and rhythmic rap lines to attract younger listeners. Dizzy Gillespie said that the work of The Jives of Dr. Hepcat and rhyming DJ Daddy-O Daylie helped popularize modern jazz. The rise of Top-40 radio, which featured rapping DJs, led to the use of more unique language and sentence structures in rap. Muhammad Ali's way of speaking to the press early in his career was influenced by 1950s Black radio, where white announcers used slang "jive" and imitated Black announcers without revealing their backgrounds. Pioneering DJs like Al Benson, Nat D., and Jack the Rapper used rhyming, playful insults, and jive talk in their broadcasts. These styles were later copied by white DJs like John Richbourg, Gene Nobles, and Bill Allen, who influenced James Brown and other early rap artists. Bebop, a type of jazz, is considered the foundation of Black appeal radio.

Groups part of the Native Tongues collective focused on making music with a jazzy style. These included the Jungle Brothers' first album, Straight Out the Jungle (Warlock, 1988), and A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (Jive, 1990). The Low End Theory became one of hip-hop's most praised albums, and jazz bassist Ron Carter played double bass on one track. De La Soul's Buhloone Mindstate (Tommy Boy, 1993) included music from Eddie Harris, Lou Donaldson, Duke Pearson, and Milt Jackson, as well as contributions from Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, and Pee Wee Ellis. Queen Latifah and Monie Love were also part of the Native Tongues group.

In 1991, the Toronto-based group Dream Warriors released And Now the Legacy Begins (Island). The album produced the hit singles "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style" and "Wash Your Face in My Sink." The first song used a loop from Quincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova," while the second used music from Count Basie's 1967 version of "Hang On Sloopy." At the same time, the Los Angeles group Freestyle Fellowship explored jazz influence in their music by using unusual time signatures and vocal styles inspired by scat singing.

Although jazz rap had limited mainstream success, jazz legend Miles Davis' final album, Doo-Bop (released in 1992 after his death), included hip-hop beats and worked with producer Easy Mo Bee. Jazz musician Branford Marsalis collaborated with Gang Starr's DJ Premier on his project Buckshot LeFonque in 1992. Between 1993 and 2007, Guru, a member of Gang Starr, released the Jazzmatazz series, which featured guest appearances from jazz artists like Lonnie Liston Smith, Freddie Hubbard, and Donald Byrd.

Over time, direct references to jazz in music became less common, but jazz remained an important part of hip-hop production. Its influence was seen in the 1990s through artists like Nas (Illmatic, Columbia, 1994) and the Roots, the Nonce, and Common. In the 2000s, jazz elements appeared in the work of producers like J. Rawls, Fat Jon, and Madlib. A project similar to Buckshot LeFonque was Brooklyn Funk Essentials, a New York-based group that released its first album in 1994. Prince also contributed to the genre between 1991 and 1992, including on his New Power Generation album Gold Nigga, which combined jazz, funk, and hip-hop.

Guru's Jazzmatazz series continued to connect hip-hop with jazz by featuring live jazz musicians. From 1993 to 2007, the series included jazz artists like Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, Courtney Pine, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Garrett, and Lonnie Liston Smith, as well as hip-hop performers such as Kool Keith, MC Solaar, Common, and DJ