This is a part of
HIP-HOP 50
‘Virtuoso drummer x rap confessor takes hip hop x jazz to another level’ (Mojo)
Sometimes a quote says it all: ‘Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer, and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions.’ Not one false word! This musical jack-of-all-trades from Seattle received critical acclaim for his albums ‘Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz’ (2019), ‘I THINK I’M GOOD’ (2020) and his mixtapes ‘Shades Of Flu 1-3’. Pitchfork: ‘Jazz and hip-hop fusion has been waiting for an album as good as this. Raw, underground, and chaotic…by illuminating old cuts in new light, Kassa asserts his position as one of modern jazz music’s most audacious futurists.’ His youngest album ‘Animals’ – with surprising musical guests like Danny Brown, Laura Mvula and Vijay Iyer - is to be released on Warp Records and already got a ****-review from Mojo: ‘Genre-vaulting Seattleite’s jazz and hip hop informed triumph.’ Interesting sidenote: he is accompanied by Tomoki Sanders (they/them), child of the legendary jazz musician Pharoah Sanders.
Concert pictures © Julie Brondeel