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An Introduction
By Chernicky
Updated 9/25/2002
The bottom line with music for Hip Hop Lindy is this : you can do Hip Hop Lindy to any hip hop track - it's just a matter of what music you like best
and how well you can adapt.
That being said, since the dance itself combines elements of both Lindy and Hip Hop, and most dancers have an appreciation for both jazz and hip hop, I've broken down this section into categories in the same way:
- Hip Hop With a Jazz Influence
- Jazz With a Hip Hop Influence (aka Trip Hop)
- Hip Hop / Swing Crossover
- Straight Hip Hop
- Specific Songs / Tracklists / Recommendations
I don't pretend to be comprehensive in this section... this is just a small introduction to some artists, albums, and tracks that I have found and that I like. When I am DJ'ing, these are some of the songs I play.
1. Hip Hop With a Jazz Influence
In 1993, the influence of jazz in the world of hip hop saw it's apex. That year saw the release of many great jazz-influenced hip hop albums:
the Digable Planets' Reachin' (a new
refutation of time and space), and US3's blue note debut
Hand on the Torch (Featuring the popular
updated version of "Cantaloop"). All of these albums are excellent, and deserve exploration for Hip Hop Lindy, but perhaps none so much
as Guru's Jazzmatazz series.
Guru deserves a bit of exegesis, since he's pretty much made his career out of hip hop jazz fusion, or jazzmatazz (as he calls it).
Some might remember Guru's testing the waters with "Jazz Music" on Gang Starr's album, No More Mr. Nice Guy. The track is basically a love letter to the
original masters of jazz and is worth seeking out. Guru went on his own to release 1993's
Jazzmatazz Volume: 1. Billed on the cover
as "an experimental fusion of hip-hop and jazz", the album features an impressive list of top cut jazz musicians : Donald Byrd, Ronny Jordan,
and N'Dea Davenport to name a few. I highly recommend the songs "When You're Near" and "No Time to Play" for Hip Hop Lindy. In 1995,
Guru released the somewhat disappointing
Jazzmatazz Volume II : The New Reality. While the album once
again featured an impressive lineup of musicians, it is largely recognized as being inferior to the original. For whatever reason, it doesn't hit,
though I do recommend the last track, "Skit B (Alot on My Mind) Revelation". Guru fared much better with 2000's
Jazzmatazz Streetsoul. The third Jazzmatazz volume,
Streetsoul is a fusion of not only hip hop and jazz, but R&B and soul as well. I absolutely love this album. Many of the tracks work
great for Hip Hop Lindy, especially "Plenty" featuring the Billie Holiday-esque Erykah Badu. This is a great (if not overplayed) track. The duet is a very playful and flirtatious battle of wits between Guru and the temptress Badu. The song is beginner
friendly to boot, alternating between a hip hop beat on the verses and a very lindy-able jazz beat on the many choruses, so you can switch back
and forth.
The aforementioned Erykah Badu is another great artist to check out. In general, her music is very jazzy, slow and playful.
The tracks I use are "Certainly" and "On and On", both of which are available on Baduizm.
Also be sure to check out "Tyrone" on Live, an instant classic.
I haven't had a chance to check out Mama's Gun.
Freestyle Fellowship's Innercity Griots
(one of my favorites) features a track called "Innercity Boundaries" which is definitely a Hip Hop Lindy essential.
2. Jazz With a Hip Hop Influence (aka Trip Hop)
The influence of hip hop in the jazz world is also evident. If you can find the
out-of-print The New Groove : The Blue Note Remix Project, then you are going to be pleased. There are many great tracks, about 5 of them are excellent. Of particular note are "Hummin'" by Cannonball Adderley, "Listen Here" by Eddie Harris and Guru, and "Summer Song"
by Ronnie Foster. Seek this album out, it is definitely an essential. Hopefully they will re-issue this one and make additional volumes in
the future.
Also worth checking out is the Rebirth of Cool compilation series on the 4th and Bway label. I recommend the Subterraneans' "Taurus Woman"
and Freestyle Fellowship's "Innercity Boundaries" off of the
first volume (also available on their Innercity Griots album).
I like Outside's "Crazy" on the second volume, Portishead's "Revenge of the Number" on the third volume, and I don't recommend like the fourth volume.
Jazz musician Steve Coolbone put out a hip hop and brass jazz fusion alum called Brass-Hop which I also recommend. The tracks are all pretty
good, in particular the tracks "Brass Hop" and "Use Me". Also, if you can find it, there is a remixed version of "Use Me" which is even better
than the album version. A note to the buyer: Don't confuse Coolbone with the Coolbone Swing Troupe... they are both Steve Coolbone projects,
but the latter is a New Orleans-style jazz swing troupe, and honestly - it is not the best album.
I also kind of like Brandon Marsalis' Jazz hip hop side project, Buckshot LeFonque.
Also highly recommended : anything by Medeski, Martin &Wood.
3. Hip Hop / Swing Crossover
A common misconception by newcomers to Hip Hop Lindy is that there is a specific form of music that is tailor-made for Hip Hop Swing.
There are very few instances where this is so. Of note here are the fairly successful attempts. "Hi De Ho" by K7 is slightly fast and a little
cheesy, but on the whole I think this track worked. "Swing Set" by Jurassic 5 is terrific, a great song if you were to put a routine together. One of the weirdest, but also best tracks in this genre is called "One O'Clock Jump" by a band called ZIP. It's hard to find, so ask around.
The Yallopin' Hounds deserve quite a bit of mention in this category. From NYC, this group has been very interested in exploring the sounds of Hip Hop Lindy. Their first album, Ghetto Swing Extreme is all straight-forward swing music, but it definitely has a street attitude to it. Their second album, New Yallopin' City has more of a hip hop lindy crossover sound that works well, especially on numbers like "Thugbrat". The third album, Lindy Hop Extreme is a conceptually rounded album that explores all types of Lindy Hop, (smooth, groove, big band, etc.) and even includes one track called... "Hip Hop Lindy".
One group has even tried to brand themselves specifically as Hip Hop Swing : Jimmy Luxury and the Tommy Rome Orchestra. For a long time, Jimmy Luxury's
A Night in the Arms Of... was a hard to find item, as it was only released as a promotional CD. The band itself was signed to Sony, but for whatever reason
, the album never got released under the Sony umbrella. How is the album? Depends on who you ask. I think
the album is dog horrible. While the background music isn't all that bad, Luxury seriously lacks talent as a rapper, and his backup vocalists are even worse - so bad that they me cringe. When they sing the chorus on Luxury's version of Dean Martin's
"Aint that a Kick in the Head", they sound to me like tone deaf, drunk, frat boys. I absolutely can't stand this album, but to be honest I've
talked with quite a few people who swear to me that they love it. Luxury's music has been in the films Go and Steven Soderberg's Ocean's Eleven.
In any event, they briefly had the album (now redubbed My True Love Is...) available through the band's website, though at time of writing it looks like they had stopped doing that. Check the link. At the time of this writing it looks like they have a new album available called Hotels, Limousines and Lawnchairs.
While Jimmy Luxury may or may not work for you, you have to him credit for braving this musical direction. The fusion of hip hop and swing music is an
interesting prospect, and perhaps someday it will come through. The problem is that so much of swing music is fluffy and corny, and this
is a hard thing to reconcile with the harder edge of hip hop. There are, however, plentiful instances of successful hip hop
jazz fusion.
4. Non Jazz-Influenced Hip Hop
As I said before Hip Hop Lindy can be done to any type of hip hop. Find any hip hop song you like, spend some time with it, and see what you can do with it Hip Hop Lindy wise.
What I am listening to right now: So... How's Your Girl? by Handsome Boy Modeling School. This album features Dan the Automator, Prince Paul, Del, Grand Puba and Sadat X from Brand Nubian, DJ Shadow, Mike D., Sean Lennon, Alec Empire, and even Father Guido Sarducci. If that is not an all-star line-up I don't know what is. "The Projects (Pjays)" has been in my own personal heavy rotation for a few months.
Lately, I've heard a lot of DJ's playing Outkast's "The Whole World" from the album Big Boi & Dre Present Outkast. A great track, check it out.
Recommended classics: Sugarhill Gang, Run DMC, One Way, Zapp & Roger, Grandmaster Flash, NWA, Ice Cube, Beastie Boys, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One
Recommended new school: Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Snoop Dogg, Method Man, Redman, ODB, The Roots, Freestyle Fellowship, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, etc..., just watch MTV or turn on the radio. Most top 40 hip hop is crap, but occaisionally you find a gem that breaks through.
5. Specific Songs / Tracklists / Recommendations
Some of my Recommendations:
- Jump, Jive, and Wail Tranquility Bass Remix (Louis Prima)
- Hi De Ho (K7)
- Use Me (Coolbone)
- Swing Set (Jurassic 5)
- Sweet Apple Pie (Jimmy Luxury)
- Havana (Jimmy Luxury)
- Jazz Music (Gang Starr)
- When You're Near (Guru)
- Music Evolution (Buckshot Lefonque)
- Respect the Architect (Guru)
- No Time to Play (Guru)
- Cantaloop Instrumental (US3)
- Revelation (Guru)
- Plenty (Guru & Erykah Badu)
- Flying High in the Brooklyn Sky (Digable Planets)
- You're In Shambles (Del the Funky Homosapien)
- Bull**** (The Pharcyde)
- Lucas With the Lid Off (Lucas)
- Inner City Boundaries (Freestyle Fellowship)
- Cannonball (Nat Adderly)
- Listen Here (Eddie Harris)
- Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz)
- Crazy (Outside)
- Friends & Strangers (W. Jeffrey/D. Oliver/R. Robinson)
- Montara (Bobby Hutcherson)
- Certainly (Erykah Badu)
- On and On (Erykah Badu)
- Shammy/Heat Mizer (Freestyle Fellowship)
- It's Love (Jill Scott)
- Hey Hee Hi Ho (Modeski, Martin, & Wood)
- Just Like I Pictured It (Modeski, Martin, & Wood)
- Revenge of the Number (Portishead)
- Taurus Woman (Subterraneans)
- Request Line (Black Eyed Peas & Macy Gray)
- I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (A Tribe Called Quest)
- The Humpty Dance (Digital Underground)
- Just a Friend (Biz Markie)
- I Wish (Skee-Lo)
- Apache (Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band)
- Mega Medley (Zapp and Roger)
- Brick (Dazz)
- Me, Myself and I (De La Soul)
- Rockit (Herbie Hancock)
- The Message (Grandmaster Flash)
- Give It Up Or Turn It Loose In the Jungle Groove Remix (James Brown)
- It's A Man's World (Ice Cube & Yo-Yo)
- One O'Clock Jump (ZIP)
Comp from Ryan Eliason
1. Lou Bega Mambo #5
2. Lou Bega I Got A Girl
3. Lou Bega 1+1=2
4. Lou Bega Beauty On The TV
5. Lou Bega The Trumpet Part 2
6. Vinyl Cyclops
7. Maceo Parker Up & Down Easy Street
8. Tribe Called Quest Motivators
9. Tribe Called Quest Jam
10. Erykah Badu On and On
11. Erykah Badu Certainly
12. Dr Dre (The chronic) Lyrical Ganbang
Recommendations from C Todd Lombardo
"Hipping the hop" - George Benson
"Get up" - Amel Laurreiux
"Intergalactic" or "Remote Control" - Beastie Boys
"Thugbrat" - Yalloppin' Hounds
"Connected" - Stereo MC's
"This is how we do it" - Montel Jordan
"Tonz O' Gunz" - Gang Starr
"B!tch Betta Have My Money" - AMG
"Shoop" or "Creep" - Salt n' Peppa
"8 Ball" or "A B!tch is a B!tch" - NWA
"Nuthin But A G Thang" - Dr. Dre
"Real Muthaphuckin' G's" - Eazy-E
"No Vaseline" - Ice Cube
"Electric Relaxation" or "Hot Sex" - Tribe
"Rebel Without A Pause" - Public Enemy
"Bow wow wow"- Funkdoobiest
"The Bad Touch" - The Bloodhound Gang
"The Rockefeller Skank" - Fat Boy Slim
"No need for alarm" - Del tha Funky Homosapien
"Battle Flag" - Pigeonhead
"Are you that somebody?" - Alliyah
"Jumpin' Jumpin'" - Destiny's Child
"Concrete Schoolyard" - Jurassic 5
Recommendations from Yehoodi user HellFireSoulFly
"Dirty Beats" - Roni Size
"Solarize" - J Majik
"Tap the Bottle" - Young Black Teenagers
"Ghetto Celebrity" - Roni Size/Method Man
"Cyclone" - Dub Pistols
"Blackout" - Todd Terry
"Ultrafunkula" - Armand Van Helden
"Aria" - Articolo 31
"Rose Rouge" - St. Germain
"Ponderose" - Tricky
"Ghetto Love" - DJ Cam
"Peach Fuzz" - KMD
"Rock This Funky Joint" - Poor Righteous Teachers
"One Bad Apple" - The Osmonds
Anything upbeat by Jackson 5
and if you can get a hold of a deep house remix of "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson and progressive house mix of Hall and Oates' "Can't Go For That," that would be sweet.
Recommendations from Shawn Rice
Ain’t no sunshine – DMX
Six underground – Sneaker Pimps (remixed by Paul Oakenfold)
Rock the House – Gorillaz (or pretty much anything else they do)
I’m not the enemy – Lina
One O’Clock Jump – Zip (European band that’s really hard to find)
Things I’ve Seen – Spooks
You know my Name – South Park Mexican
Can’t Take my eyes off of you – Lauryn Hill
Fallin’ – Alicia Keys
More to come...
Submit some music recommendations.
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