Jazz rap

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The Jazz Rap is a crossover variant of hip-hop in the hip-hop songs with Jazz are connected elements. As a musical genre, this variant emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but was not internationally successful with the exception of a few albums. The best-known German-speaking band from this genre is the Jazzkantine from Braunschweig .

History of jazz rap

The history of jazz rap began around 1988 with the singles Words I Manifest the band Gang Starr with samples of Charlie Parker and Talkin 'All That Jazz from Stetsasonic with elements of Lonnie Liston Smith . The 1989 album No More Mr. Nice Guy by Gang Starr as well as her collaboration on the soundtrack for the film Mo 'Better Blues and the album Straight Out the Jungle by the Jungle Brothers (1988) brought further successes for jazz rap. Influenced by the Jungle Brothers, the debut of De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (1989) and A Tribe Called Quest People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990) appeared from the Native Tongues Posse .

The following album by A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory (1991) contained only a few jazz elements by Ron Carter , but received such high ratings from the press and fans that it is considered one of the most important and influential albums of the decade. Although the fusion of jazz and hip-hop was not commercially successful, the last album by jazz legend Miles Davis Doo Bop (1992, posthumously ) was released as a jazz-rap album together with producer Easy Mo Bee . Even Herbie Hancock released the same year with Dis Is Da Drum (1992) an album of jazz with hip-hop elements. Another important group are the Digable Planets with their two albums Reachin '(A New Refutation of Time and Space) (1993) and Blowout Comb (1994).

1993 appeared with Jazzmatazz , Vol. 1 by rapper Guru one of the most successful and at the same time most critical albums of jazz rap. A jazz band was recorded live for the production and not mixed in with samples, as was usual up to now. Around the same time, jazz rap reached Europe with the successful album Hand on the Torch (1993) and the Cantaloop from Us3 contained therein . Inspired by Jazzmatazz, the jazz musicians Ole Sander , Matthias Lanzer and Christian Eitner founded the band Jazzkantine in 1993 , which worked together successfully with various artists such as Smudo , Cappuccino , Götz Alsmann and Such a Surge .

Well-known artists and albums