Rapp on Jazz: Jazz and hip-hop

Published February 4, 2026 at 6:05 AM EST

From left, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg from U.S group A Tribe Called Quest perform on stage during the Wireless Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, Sunday, July 14, 2013. (Photo by Jonathan Short/Invision/AP)

TRANSCRIPT:

I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.

Jazz and hip hop share a deep, creative lineage, even though they emerged decades apart. Hip hop artists have long drawn inspiration from jazz’s rhythm, improvisation, and harmonic complexity.

Early producers sampled classic jazz recordings, lifting horn riffs, bass lines, and drum breaks to create fresh beats. The improvisational nature of jazz—its call-and-response phrasing, swing, and syncopation—echoes in rap flows and freestyles, giving hip hop a sense of spontaneity and musical conversation.

Artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Guru’s Jazzmatazz project, and Kendrick Lamar have built bridges between the genres, blending live jazz instrumentation with rap vocals to explore social, cultural, and musical ideas.

Jazz informs its attitude, texture, and soul.

This has been Rapp On Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible by Layman Publishing Partners, celebrating 50 years of expert content creation, authoritative information management, and standards-driven print and digital production.