Yo, whats up this is Tre Hardson
Also known to y’all as Slim Kid Tre
The topic for today is uh
The influence of jazz
Now, jazz has come a long way
Back in the days
There was bebop
And now its hip hop
Jazz was revolutionary
And hip hop is also revolutionary
Unlike rap
Rap’s not really getting the message across
Like our forefathers
Like the Gil Scott-Herons, you know
They paved the way
They set the pace
They set the tone
Like the Last Poets
All of these are great people, great minds
To do things to carry the torch of our ancestors
And to let us know what’s really, really going on around the world
Hip hop has definitely carried that torch in a positive way
Rap was a vehicle for stopping the violence
Just as jazz was back in the days
Back in the 60s, back in the 30s
Quincey Jones, McCoy Tyrner, Grant Green
Wes Montgomery, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis
Eric Gale, Phil Sanders, Freddie Hubbbard
Billy Higgins, Jimmy Smith, Wayne Shorter
Ahmad Jamal, Thelonius Monk – all big influences
For what it is that we do
And what it is that we are
As we take our stance in music
Jazz was also like a secret conversation
I mean, it was a universal language
So no matter what culture you came from
You would still hear the music
And feel the story even if you didn’t know the words
In hip hop
We have to put our all into it
So you can feel the energy coming across
Just the same as the saxophone player
Who played with the same intensity and feeling
And that’s what we’re all here for
To feel that love and vibration music
To uplift the people, indeed
So that is indeed an influence on me