{"id":78,"date":"2018-12-13T09:04:55","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T14:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/mus235-11\/?page_id=78"},"modified":"2018-12-13T09:13:09","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T14:13:09","slug":"a-tribe-called-quest-and-early-fusion-of-jazz-and-hip-hop","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/mus235-11\/a-tribe-called-quest-and-early-fusion-of-jazz-and-hip-hop\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tribe Called Quest and Early Fusion of Jazz and Hip Hop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not long after Hip Hop had become established as a genre, one of its most important innovations occurred when producers began to sample Jazz instead of the more common Disco and Rock. Some of the first artists to combine the two genres in this way included Gang Starr, Digable Planets, and members of the collective Native Tongues, De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers, and the main focus of this paper, A Tribe Called Quest. These groups all formed in the late 80s and released revolutionary jazz-influenced albums throughout the early 90s. Analysis of any of the albums from those groups at that time would support my argument, however The Low End Theory,<\/em>the album by A Tribe Called Quest, which contains tracks, \u201cJazz (We\u2019ve Got)\u201d and \u201cBuggin\u2019 Out\u201d, is arguably the most clear example as well as one of the most critically acclaimed Hip Hop albums of all time (Hart). A Tribe Called Quest was a self-proclaimed \u201cHip Hop Band\u201d consisting of members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.<\/p>\n

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As the title of track 11, \u201cJazz (We\u2019ve Got)\u201d, suggests, the music on The Low End Theory<\/em>is heavily inspired by Jazz and wears that influence on its sleeve. In the first verse of \u201cExcursions\u201d, the opening song of the album, Q-Tip references this influence by comparing Hip Hop to Bebop Jazz in the lines, \u201cYou could find the Abstract listenin’ to hip-hop\/My pops used to say, it reminded him of Bebop\/I said, Well, Daddy, don’t you know that things go in cycles?\/Way that Bobby Brown is just amping like Michael\u201d. The most obvious musical influence is in the samples found within the instrumentals. Though not all of the samples on the album are credited, some of the more prominent ones were cleared and are listed at the end of the CD booklet and most originate from jazz or funk records. \u201cVibes and Stuff\u201d uses a sample from jazz guitarist Grant Green and \u201cCheck the Rhime\u201d uses a horn sample from Average White Band\u2019s song \u201cLove Your Life\u201d. Though it isn\u2019t credited on the album, a bit of digging on whosampled.com shows that the song \u201cJazz (We\u2019ve Got)\u201d uses a sample from the piece \u201cGreen Dolphin Street\u201d by Jazz\/Blues Pianist Jimmy McGriff. A Tribe Called Quest even goes beyond sampling and recruits famous Jazz Double Bassist, Ron Carter, to play the bassline on the Q-Tip solo track, \u201cVerses from the Abstract\u201d (The Low End Theory)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

After finding all of those samples used on The Low End Theory, <\/em>Q Tip\u2019s earlier comparison of ATCQ\u2019s own music to Bebop Jazz doesn\u2019t actually seem to fit at first glance. If Bebop Jazz and Hip Hop were really that similar, it would make sense that A Tribe Called Quest would be using Bebop samples, however that wasn\u2019t usually the case. Both the vibraphone sample in \u201cJazz (We\u2019ve Got)\u201d and the guitar sample in \u201cVibes and Stuff\u201d are closer to Soul Jazz than Bebop Jazz (Oxford Music, \u201cJazz\u201d). Though the samples are quite different from Bebop Jazz, the comparison is still accurate because of the Hip Hop elements present in the music of A Tribe Called Quest, which contains similar stylistic elements of high energy and intensity. \u201cJazz (We\u2019ve Got)\u201d and \u201cVibes and Stuff\u201d are clearly Hip Hop songs rather than Jazz pieces due to the repetition in the sampling and more importantly, the drum focus. Hip Hop drums are also typically sampled, but are almost always some of the most prominent sounds in a song. They tend to be fairly straightforward rhythmically, with a focus on heavy kicks on at least the 1st<\/sup>and 3rd<\/sup>beats and snares on the 2nd<\/sup>and 4th<\/sup>beat that are usually loud and central in the mix. This style of drum programing creates a higher energy than the more abstract drums present in most Soul Jazz and is more similar to drum grooves in Rock and Pop music of the 70s and 80s, a genre the youth of the time would have associated with rebellion, dancing, and partying. The drums on The Low End Theory<\/em>were within the Hip Hop style, but were different from the drums in earlier songs like \u201cIt\u2019s Tricky\u201d and \u201cRapper\u2019s Delight\u201d in that they have swing and lag slightly behind beat, which like so many of their other stylistic choices, is more common in Jazz. The Low End Theory\u00a0<\/em>was not the first, or only Hip Hop album to make use of jazz sampling, but combining elements from multiple forms of Jazz and within the stylistic parameters of Hip Hop, A Tribe Called Quest was able to fuse the two genres in a unique way that resonated with their audience and created a new space within Hip Hop that would flourish in years to come.<\/p>\n

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Not long after Hip Hop had become established as a genre, one of its most important innovations occurred when producers began to sample Jazz instead…<\/p>\n

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