By Jared D. Childress | OBSERVER Staff Writer
It felt like the second coming of Woodstock, only with jazz and hip-hop taking center stage.
Hip-hip pioneer Rakim rode the hypnotic drumbeat of “Paid in Full” as his iconic bars washed over a sun-kissed crowd. DJ Jazzy Jeff kept the instrumental playing as host Dave Chapelle displayed chameleon-like prowess, transitioning from host to comedian and then a hype man before tagging in French jazz musician Frederick Yonnet, who played harmonica over the still pulsating beat.
This epic yet intimate performance was one of many at the second annual Blue Note Jazz Festival in Napa Valley, held July 28-30 at the Silverado Resort. The event, which celebrated hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, drew a diverse crowd of about 24,000.
Jazz and hip-hop are two of the most influential musical genres to emerge in the 20th century; both were used as a tool for Black liberation at pivotal points in history. By paying homage to the artforms on one stage, the festival became the epicenter of Black culture – if only for a weekend.
Chapelle said it was culturally significant to celebrate historically Black music in a historically white city, as Napa is less than 1% Black.
“I don’t imagine Napa Valley has experienced a culture like this – and some of us haven’t experienced Napa Valley,” Chapelle said to THE OBSERVER. “It’s building bridges for everyone to cross with art and music.”
Featured performances included Mary J. Blige, Nas, Chance the Rapper and artist-in-residence Robert Glasper, a pianist famous for his Grammy-winning collaborations. Additional acts included Parliament-Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Ari Lenox, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Big Freedia, to name a few.
Carmen Williams, the CEO of Will C Travels, a Sacramento travel agency, booked a hotel so she could attend Friday and Saturday. The Bay Area native gushed about Blige’s opening set before adding that she witnessed the rise of hip-hop, citing beloved rapper Tupac Shakur as a favorite.
“Tupac wrote good songs that we live every day,” the baby boomer said. “He just got to the heart of things.”
Shakur is arguably the most notorious hip-hop artist of the 1990s, the late rapper becoming a martyr for gangsta rap upon his untimely 1996 death at age 25. From the motivational “Keep Ya Head Up” to the anthemic “California Love,” Shakur’s catalog captures the climate of late 20th-century Black life.
But hip-hop isn’t just rap music; it’s a culture. For most of its history, it has been defined by four elements: MCing (rapping), breakdancing, graffiti art and DJing, according to journalist Jeff Chang in his book “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop.” Today it has been expanded to include culturally specific vernacular, street entrepreneurship, fashion, and other aspects.
Aug. 11, 1973, is remembered as the birthdate of hip-hop. That night in the Bronx, DJ Kool Herc spun the same record on twin turntables, toggling between “the breaks,” or the breakdown in a song where danceable parts of the beat are isolated.
Sway Calloway, veteran broadcast journalist and host of SiriusXM’s “Sway in the Morning,” said hip-hop is a change agent.
“It came from an outcry of people who weren’t being heard in the post-civil rights era,” Calloway said. “It was about making our voices heard.”
Hip-hop has always been a sign of the times. In 1971 Gil Scott-Heron talked about activism in his spoken word magnum opus, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” In the 1980s, N.W.A. denounced law enforcement in their subversive record “F*** tha Police.” In the 1990s, female rap duo Salt-N-Pepa used their hit record “Let’s Talk About Sex” to address the AIDS epidemic.
In the 21st century, hip-hop has become a global phenomenon. There are 1.85 billion listeners worldwide, constituting about a quarter of music listeners, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Actor Susan Kelechi Watson, of “This Is Us” fame, said when it comes to hip-hop, she “doesn’t feel separate from the culture,” but she has a soft spot for jazz. She was formally introduced to it by a college play.
“In college, someone used John Coltrane as the soundtrack for his play; that’s when I really got connected to jazz,” Watson, 41, said. “As soon as the music hit, it was in my blood.”
If the record heard was Coltrane’s 1965 magnum opus, “A Love Supreme,” it is no secret why she was transfixed. The influential saxophonist crafted the album as a thank you to God after being delivered from a heroin addiction. He died from cancer in 1967 at age 40.
The word “jazz” was first codified in writing in 1913 when mentioned by a San Francisco newspaper, according to historian Alyn Shipton’s book, “A New History of Jazz.” The 1920s saw jazz rise in popularity, but the artform’s roots date to before the Civil War, the sound being an amalgamation of ragtime, marching bands and blues. Jazz has several hallmarks, including improvisation, syncopation and irregular rhythms.
Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Nina Simone are just some of the many legendary jazz greats. Like hip-hop, jazz also has been a change agent, with Simone’s 1964 song “Mississippi Goddam” speaking out against the murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers.
Today, artists such as Robert Glasper usher the genre into the 21st century. Throughout the festival, Glasper demonstrated jazz’s fortitude, effortlessly blending his sound with hip-hop duo De La Soul, progressive soul singer Bilal and multi-instrumental producer Terrace Martin.
Brianna Davis traveled from Elk Grove for the event. She had VIP access, the top dollar ticket allowing her to mingle backstage with Mos Def (Yasiin Bey), Andra Day, Tisha Campbell, Amanda Seales, Dawn Richard and others. But she was there to support her friend, a country artist named Kelvin Truitt who was using the event as a networking opportunity.
For Davis, 37, celebrating jazz and hip-hop meant celebrating community.
“Both genres are key and essential to being Black in America,” Davis said. “With everything we go through, music brings us together so that we can enjoy one another.”