Genre
Jazz Rap
10 artists
What is jazz rap? Jazz rap combines hip-hop beats and rhymes with the samples, harmonies and feel of jazz. It's warm, smooth and musical, and often a bit more laid-back than other rap.
Where it comes from. At the end of the '80s and the start of the '90s, crews like A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr and the Native Tongues started digging through their parents' jazz records. Tribe even brought jazz legend Ron Carter in to play bass on The Low End Theory (1991). Pete Rock filled his beats with horns, The Roots played jazz rap with a live band, and J Dilla gave it a loose, human swing. In 2004 MF DOOM and Madlib made the cult classic Madvillainy, and today The Alchemist carries on the tradition.
The sound. Upright bass, Rhodes piano, horn stabs and vinyl crackle, over drums that swing instead of stomp. The lyrics are often clever and abstract rather than aggressive.
Key albums
- The Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest (1991)
- Mecca and the Soul Brother, Pete Rock & CL Smooth (1992)
- Do You Want More?!!!??!, The Roots (1995)
- Madvillainy, Madvillain (MF DOOM & Madlib) (2004)
- Donuts, J Dilla (2006)
