jazz rap
Saxophone meets rhymes
Jazz rap is a hip-hop subgenre that incorporates jazz instrumentation, samples, and improvisation into rap music.
Emerging in the late 1980s, it typically features live or sampled jazz elements—upright bass, saxophone, complex chord progressions—beneath rap vocals: A Tribe Called Quest pioneered jazz rap with their laid-back beats and jazz samples.
Legendary alternative hip-hop group
- De La Soul
- The RootsHip-hop collective with live instruments
Informal term for hosting
- DJingPlaying recorded music live
- turntablismPhonograph-based music creation
- cypherEncoded communication method
- spittingOral fluid ejection
emcee · golden age · old school · backpack · alternative hip-hop · spoken word · beatnik
Without prescribed technique
- scattingImprovised nonsense singing
- ad-libbingUnscripted spontaneous performance
- cadenceRhythmic pulse or pattern
- deliveryConveyance of goods
syncopation · phrasing · swing · laid-back · conversational · polyrhythmic · spontaneity · call-and-response
Mentally present and alert
- wordplayVerbal wit techniques
- poetryMetrical literary composition
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
narrative · verses · bars · rhyme · alliteration · simile · Afrocentric · introspective
A Tribe Called Quest
Legendary alternative hip-hop group
- De La Soul
- The RootsHip-hop collective with live instruments
MCing
Informal term for hosting
- DJingPlaying recorded music live
- turntablismPhonograph-based music creation
- cypherEncoded communication method
spitting · emcee · golden age · old school · backpack · alternative hip-hop · spoken word · beatnik
freestyle
Without prescribed technique
- scattingImprovised nonsense singing
- ad-libbingUnscripted spontaneous performance
- cadenceRhythmic pulse or pattern
delivery · syncopation · phrasing · swing · laid-back · conversational · polyrhythmic · spontaneity · call-and-response · rhythmic
conscious
Mentally present and alert
storytelling · narrative · verses · bars · rhyme · alliteration · simile · Afrocentric · introspective · abstract
sampling
Extracting subset for study
- boom bapSample-based hip-hop style
- breakbeatSampled percussive rhythm pattern
- loopsSelf-crossing curved shapes
chops · interpolation · upright bass · Rhodes · crate digging
soulful
Expressing deep emotion
funky · chill · cool · organic · warm · downtempo · sophisticated · eclectic · underground
- hybrid genresrock opera, blues rock, folk rock, country rock, pop rock
- jazzbebop, swing era, hard bop, post-bop, improvisation
- Jazz FusionWeather Report, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, fusion, Brand X
jazz raptrap music
Hard-hitting Southern hip-hop style
drill · crunk · horrorcore · gangsta rap · electro-rap
happen, rap, jazz, jazzy, rapper, jazzed, raps, rapped, rapping