Jazz rap is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre, that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of the past with a newly dominant form of the present, paying tribute to and reinvigorating the former while expanding the horizons of the latter." The rhythm was rooted in hip hop over which were placed repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation: trumpet, double bass, etc. Groups involved in the formation of jazz rap included A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Gang Starr, and Jungle Brothers.
808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. Taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the "state of mind" the members shared, they released their debut album Newbuild in September 1988 and secured commercial success in 1989, when their song "Pacific State" was picked up by BBC Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies and charted for 11 weeks in the UK.
Acid jazz is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul, and hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1980s with the rare groove movement and spread to the United States, Western Europe, Latin America and Japan. Acts included The Brand New Heavies, Incognito, James Taylor Quartet, Us3, and Jamiroquai from the UK, and Guru, Buckshot LeFonque and Digable Planets from the U.S. The rise of electronic club music in the middle to late 1990s led to a decline in interest, and in the twenty-first century, acid jazz became indistinct as a genre. Many acts that might have been defined as acid jazz are seen as jazz-funk, or nu jazz.
London Recordings is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London name – as London American Recordings, often shortened to London American – was also used by British Decca in the UK market, for releases taken from American labels, which British Decca licensed.
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince were an American hip hop duo from West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consisting of rapper Will Smith and turntablist Jeff Townes. Active full time from 1986 to 1994 and occasionally thereafter, the duo became just the third rap group in recording history to receive platinum certification, after Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. The group received the first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989 for "Parents Just Don't Understand" (1988), though their most successful single was "Summertime" (1991), which earned the group their second Grammy and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Will Smith and Jeff Townes have remained close friends and claim they never split up, having made songs together under Smith's solo performer credit. DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince have sold over 5.5 million albums in the US. Their latest performance dates back to November 2023.
Errol Francis, better known as DJ Dextrous, is a British DJ, producer and composer.
Moses Barrett III, better known by his stage name Petey Pablo, is an American rapper and record producer from Greenville, North Carolina. He is best known for his 2003 crunk single "Freek-a-Leek," which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Prior, he signed with Jive Records to release his 2001 single "Raise Up", which served as a tribute to his native Greenville and peaked at number 25 on the chart. The label released his first two albums: Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry (2001) and Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry (2004); the former was nominated for Best Rap Album at 45th Annual Grammy Awards, while the latter peaked at number four on the Billboard 200. His following releases have failed to yield any further commercial response.
The Zomba Group of Companies was a music group and division owned by and operated under Sony Music Entertainment. The division was renamed to Jive Label Group in 2009 and was placed under the RCA/Jive Label Group umbrella. In 2011, the RCA/Jive Label Group was split in half. Multiple Jive Label Group artists were moved to Epic Records while others stayed with Jive as it moved under the RCA Music Group. In October 2011 Jive Records was shut down and their artists were moved to RCA Records.
Rhythm King Records Ltd was a British independent record label, founded in the mid-1980s by Martin Heath, Adele Nozedar, DJ Jay Strongman and James Horrocks. It was based in Chiswick, London.
Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from Queens, New York formed in 1991. Consisting of rappers/songwriters/record producers Prodigy and Havoc, they are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hop. Mobb Deep became one of the most successful rap duos of all time, having sold over three million records. Their best-known albums are The Infamous (1995), Hell on Earth (1996) and Murda Muzik (1999), and their most successful singles were "Shook Ones " and "Survival of the Fittest." They were known for their dark and hardcore delivery.
Cookie Crew were an English rap music duo formed in Clapham, South London in 1983.
J-Swift is a Spanish music producer responsible for songs with groups on the Delicious Vinyl label. He has produced the hip hop groups The Pharcyde and The Wascals.
Damian Siguenza, known by his stage name, Domino, is an American record producer, manager, DJ, and one of the members of the Oakland, California-based underground hip hop collective, Hieroglyphics.
Funk Mobb was an American, short-lived rap group composed of Bay Area rappers, K-1, G-Note and Mac Shawn who were signed by Sick Wid It and Jive Records. They were active from 1994 to 1998, first appearing on Little Bruce's debut album, XXXtra Mannish and then releasing their one and only album in 1996, It Ain't 4 Play. It peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at number 28 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers. After the album the group would disband with Mac Shawn releasing two albums, 1997's Music fo' the Mobb and 2001's Worldwide Bosses and Playas and even joining Death Row Records for a short while. In 1999 G-Note joined No Limit Records and changed his name to Lil Italy. There he released his debut solo album, On Top of da World.
Footwork, also called juke, or Chicago juke, is a genre of electronic dance music derived from ghetto house with elements of hip hop, first appearing in Chicago in the late 1990s. The music style evolved from the earlier, rapid rhythms of ghetto house, a change pioneered by RP Boo, DJ Rashad and DJ Clent. It may draw from the rapid rhythms and sub-bass frequencies of drum & bass. Tracks also frequently feature heavily syncopated samples from rap, pop and other sources, and are often around 160 bpm. The term juke music may be used as a synonym for footwork music, or may be used to differentiate between footwork the closely related proper juke music born in the 1990s from ghetto house together with footwork music, and somewhat predating it.
Funk Volume was an American independent record label founded by American rapper Hopsin and Damien Ritter in 2007. The label was home to artists Dizzy Wright, Jarren Benton, SwizZz, and producers DJ Hoppa and Kato before its 2016 dissolution. It did so due to financial alterations, and following their feud, Hopsin decided to leave the label, which resulted in its signees following suit. The label was shut down soon after, although Hopsin and Ritter reconciled in 2021.
Gene Elliott Thornton Jr., better known by his stage name No Malice, is an American rapper from Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is best known for being one half of hip hop duo Clipse, alongside his brother and fellow rapper Pusha T. No Malice released his solo debut album Hear Ye Him, in 2013, and his second studio album, Let the Dead Bury the Dead, in 2017.
La'Reonte Wright, known professionally as Dizzy Wright, is an American rapper and record producer.
"Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved" is a funk song recorded by James Brown. It was released as a two-part single in 1970 and charted #4 R&B and #34 Pop. It features backing vocals by Bobby Byrd, who shared writing credit for the song with Brown and Ron Lenhoff. This was one of several songs by Brown with an upfront social message.
