Jazz's Heavy Influence on Hip-Hop Today

Over the years, jazz and classical music have phased out of the popularity they were in, pushing new genres and styles of music to the frontier of music. The genres, though quite antiquated to our generation now, have had a major influence nonetheless on what we consider modern day music. The clearest generic impact jazz has had lies in rap.

Rap began as a genre in the 70s during block parties. DJs would isolate drum beats from jazz, soul, and funk, turning them into a vamp that rappers rapped over. Similar to how jazz musicians improvised, many MCs and DJs at the time would make up the lyrics and words they rapped in real-time. This allowed for an emphasis on rhythm and “flow” in rap, fundamentally rooting the craft in a musical element- alike to jazz.

As time went on, the clear correlation between the two genres was recognized by others, founding its own fusion genre: Jazz Rap. The prime example of this genre is one of the most famous rap groups, A Tribe Called Quest. ATCQ added instrumentation to their group, legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter being the adhesive between the group’s cool flow and a groovy beat. A Tribe Called Quest’s second album, “The Low End Theory”, fused hip-hop with “laid-back” jazz, being reminiscent of hard bop and bebop at many points in the album. The group even had a rhythm section consisting of drums and bass, a very common rhythm section for a jazz trio. One of the tracks on this album is titled “Jazz (We’ve Got)”, aptly named as it starts off with a swinging drum solo leading into the verse.

In a contemporary application, jazz rap is a field that has increased in popularity heavily through the decades. Many rappers that appeal to the current generation embody jazz, soul, and funk to shed lights to the roots of their music. A few examples of this are Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Mac Miller, MF Doom/Madvillain, Nas, Chance the Rapper, and many more. There are now albums of Madvillain rapping at Blue Note (“Madvillain invades Blue Note”), Mac Miller rapping with the Robert Glasper Trio, and J. Cole sampling “Mystic Brew”. It’s all intertwined now.

Here is “Forbidden Fruit” by J. Cole, sampling “Mystic Brew” and turning it into a vamp.