Kassa Overall | photo by Erik Bardin
Kassa Overall connects the dots between jazz and hip-hop on ‘CREAM’
The jazz musician reimagines hip-hop classics by The Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan and more.
Kassa Overall loves jazz. He also loves hip-hop. On the bandleader and drummer’s new album, CREAM, he marries those worlds to offer a unique spin on ’90s rap.
Overall is in essence referencing the past twice. His cover of Dr. Dre‘s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” can’t help but reference Leon Haywood, who Dre himself sampled. It makes for a spellbinding listen, especially when Overall’s band is in the pocket.
Today, Overall talks about his lifelong love of hip-hop and how he reimagined these classic tracks, including one of the funkiest time signatures you’ll come across in the wild.
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe’s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.