US3: The Fusion Of Hip Hop And Jazz Friday, July 22nd, 2011
Us3 wasn’t the first outfit to mix jazz and hip-hop, but they were certainly the first to score a monster hit with the combination. Powered by a Herbie Hancock sample and a laid-back rap, “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)” struck listeners as simultaneously groundbreaking and familiar. It reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. The sample was from”Cantaloupe Island,” Hancock’s 1964 track from the album Empyrean Isles. The music is hard bop, but Hancock’s piano riff is funky and Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet is cool. It combined the elements that were loved Read the rest of this entry »