Film director spike lee asked gang sta ff to create a

Film director Spike Lee asked Gang Sta ff to create a theme for the 1990 film Mo’ Better Blues
• Gang Strrr created “Jazz Thing” for the Soundtrack
“Jazz Thing” Analysis
• Lyrics are largely a chronology of Jazz from days of the Chain Gang to the present
• Lyrics touch on several societal issues
• One verse deals specifically with John Coltrane
“John Coltrane, a man supreme
He was the cream, he was the wise one
The impression of Afro Blue and of the promise
That was not kept, he was a giant step”
• At first glance, the lyrics refer to many of Coltrane’s compositions, including:
• Dr. Jesse Stuart suggests that the line, “the promise that was not kept” hints at the
oppressive social conditions that surrounded Coltrane’s music, Jazz, Hip-hop and the more
generally the African American experience
• Song brings the sulutral appropriation of African American culture to attention, as well as
co-opting of the innovations of African American musicians by white musicians - in
Particular Paul Whitman “King of Jazz” (self proclaimed) during Swing Era (1930’s)
• There was a creation of a parallel historical narrative that ignores African American Origins
of Jazz:
“Now listen see, the real mystery is how music history
Created by white men or any other white man
That pretended he originated
And contended that he innovated a jazz thing
Of course we know who can really blow
Scheamin' on the meaning of a jazz thing”
2) Stetasonic • Members:
- MC Delite
- Fruckwan
- Prince Paul
- DBC
• Origin: Brooklyn. NYC
• “Talkin All that Jazz” was a response to a radio broadcast by James Mtume on Kiss FM in
1988 that was critical of hip-hop
• Liner Notes to in Full Bear (1988), rap is “the most progressive music since Jazz)
• “Progressive” used here in relation to advancements made by African American musicians in
general
• Rap was a “Progressive” new development for African American cultural progress,
contradicts critics notations that deny hip-hop the status of art

A Tribe Called Quest
• Members:
- Q-Tip
- Komoal Ibn John Fareed
- Malik Taylor
• Origin: St. Albans, Queens, NYC
• Part of the Native Tongues Collective
• Collaborated with Jazz bassist Ron Carter on “Versus from the Abstract”
Digable Planets
• Members:
- Mary Ann “Ladybug Mecca” Vieria
- Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler
- Craig “Doodlebug” Irving
• Origin: Brooklyn NY
• Brought Jazz Rap Commercial and critical acceptance with their 1992 album, “Reachin (A New
Reflection of Time and Space) and the Single “Rebirth of Slick (Cool like Day)”
• “Rebirth of Slick (Cool like Day)” reached #15 on Billboard 200 chart
• Won grammy award for best performance in 1994

Session 7: Week 8 Material
Gangsta-Rap
• Gangsta-Rap is a subgenera that hip-hop music that evolved from hardcore hip-hop and (purports)
claims to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youth
Compton’s Most Wanted
• Founders: Mc Chill (Tha Chill), MC Eiht
• Origin: Compton, California
• Track, “Hood Took Me Under” was sampled by Notorious BIG for the track “Warning” on Ready to Die
• Both tracks were originally sampled from Issac Hayes’ track