Tons of jazz samples & deep reverence for the art form to be found in this lyrically clean early hip-hop song.
If there were ever a tailor made song for classroom use in terms of connecting hip-hop and jazz, this is it. The song is a definitive example of old school hip-hop and it might jar your students a little bit hearing it, but it's a fantastic listening example for classroom use. Check it out.
Shout out to my jazz history professor and world class percussionist "Catmaster" Leon Anderson at Florida State University — an unbelievable musician and a fantastic teacher, who presented our MME class with many educational connections between hip-hop and jazz.
EDIT — July 1st, 2020: This past spring, before the madness came, I taught a lesson based around this to my 3rd-5th grade students. You can find the contents of that lesson here, in this entry. Just make sure if you play “Salt Peanuts” for them, you wait until the end of class, because that will wind them up like no tomorrow.
“Jazz Thing” - Gang Starr
Intro: A rap group formed in the late 1980s, Gang Starr received little radio or MTV airplay but was highly influential, particularly in the early 1990s. “Jazz Thing” was released between Gang Starr albums in 1990 and used in the film Mo' Better Blues.
Analysis: “Jazz Thing” serves as an homage to jazz, from its roots in Africa and gives a brief description of jazz's American history, from slave songs to Louis Armstrong to Diz & Bird to Ornette Coleman to Sonny Rollins. “Jazz Thing” also discusses how black culture was essential in jazz's creation and preservation as well as hope for the future of jazz in America. The song makes use of a number of jazz tunes, primarily Thelonious Monk's “Light Blue”, Louis Armstrong's “Mahogany Hall Stomp”, Duke Ellington's “Upper Manhattan Medical Group”, and in the remix known as the “Video Mix”, Charlie Parker's “Cool Blues” is also sampled. The “Video Mix” of the song was also produced by Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard, both of whom play on the remix. This best-known remix features a number of short vocal samples, a prominent one taken from narration written by actor Lonnie Elder and assisted by Langston Hughes that first appeared on Charles Mingus's “Scenes in the City” from the 1957 album A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry.
Considerations for Teaching: This song is an essential listening example and incredibly useful teaching tool for any secondary teacher looking to teach about the history and importance of jazz music. The song contains no profanity and does not discuss any offensive subject matter.