There probably aren't that many fans of modern hip-hop who would list jazz as their second favorite musical idiom.
Yet, for a brief time in New York City in the early 1990s, the two worlds collided, most notably at the hands of members of the artists comprising the hugely influential rap collective Native Tongues Family.
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Beginning in the late 80s, Native Tongues artists like Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and Black Sheep turned hip-hop into high art using jazz and soul recordings long lying dormant in the dollar records bin.
With practically every modern day mainstream Western hip-hop artist abandoning this more chilled-out cerebral approach in favor of hi-hat heavy production bling, it is refreshing to see South Korean rapper Beenzino and producer Shimmytwice paying homage to those early East Coast innovators as recently as 2010, under the name Jazzyfact.
Beenzino, who as anyone who attended his performance last week in New York City knows, continues to be a force in hip-hop, both in Korea and beyond, shows tremendous confidence on all the Jazzyfact material.
His delivery and passion is as strong as ever, as he seems to be right at home in this classic rap context. But the centerpiece of all of the Jazzyfact material is clearly Shimmytwices's beats.
The entire "Lifes Like" album is a master class in how to blend the sensibilities of Pete Rock, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Prince Paul into something new and original.
Producers around the world could learn or two from this master of the drum loop.
Jazzyfact have released a couple singles, in 2011 and 2012 respectively, and they continued to always deliver. But all of this only raises the inevitable question--how about a new Jazzyfact record?
Listen to "Friday Move" from Jazzyfact's 2010 album "Lifes Like" RIGHT HERE
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