In the new digital series Lifted, Javon Anderson examines the long-standing relationship between jazz and hip hop.


Founded by Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff, Blue Note Records was the place to be for an aspiring jazz artist in the genre’s cultural peak in the 1950s and early ’60s. The prestigious label released some of the most important jazz records and put the spotlight on legends-to-be like Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Horace Silver and John Coltrane. This period of renaissance cemented Blue Note’s place as a touchstone of critical developments in jazz as an art form as they gave a platform to the forward-thinking artists who pushed the genre to new heights.

It’s no surprise that as time has passed, Blue Note’s imprint also touched on the emergence of hip hop. Through the art of sampling, Blue Note artists provided some of the sounds that characterized a new form of inner-city storytelling. The beatmakers and producers behind some of hip hop’s most defining tracks were often found thumbing through the label’s vast pool of records. If you found a Blue Note record to sample, there was a good chance you could strike gold.

One example of this can be seen in Ronnie Foster’s Mystic Brew, laden with silky guitar, organ and vibraphone riffs and grounded by the double bass.