Hip-Hop Goes Bebop

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

One man's music is another's migraine. It can be frustrating to try to persuade skeptics that Dwight Yoakam, Fugazi or Philip Glass, for example, makes real music. The task is perhaps toughest with rap. "I don't get this," the anti-rappers complain. "They're just talking. And why are they all named Ice?" Now several members of rap's vanguard -- among them Guru and Digable Planets -- are forming a new alliance between hip-hop and jazz, lending both complexity and credibility to rap. For doubters, perhaps rap + jazz will = acceptance.

The debut album from Digable Planets -- Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) -- is a whimsical delight, delivering the shock of the new by evoking the glory of the old. Sampled snatches of music from jazzmen Sonny Rollins and Art Blakey conjure the feel of smoky bebop clubs and two-drink minimums. Songs like Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) connect past musical eras with the present. These jazzy undercurrents give the album a laid-back quality that refutes the riotous stereotype of rap. As Mecca, the group's female rapper, sings on one track, "Rap is not by bandits."

Despite Digable Planets' retro-eclecticism, the trio emphasizes that it draws from many of the same cultural sources as other, more conventional rappers. "We're not doing alternative rap," says group leader Ismail, who is the son of a University of Virginia professor of history. "It isn't alienating to the communities we came from. We love the music of groups like RUN-D.M.C. and Naughty by Nature. They inspired us; their music comes from the heart as ours does."

If Ismail sounds defensive, the reason is that hip-hop has developed a distressing, street-gang-like orthodoxy. Performers feel they must be "hard core" or risk criticism, and tags like "alternative" can be viewed as signs of softness. Rapper Guru's Jazzmatazz Volume: 1 tries to bridge the gap. "I want to make older people appreciate hip-hop and get my homeboys to appreciate jazz," says Guru. "It's a family-type thing." Guest performers on the album include such jazz luminaries as trumpeter Donald Byrd, guitarist Ronny Jordan , and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Jazzmatazz, though not entirely successful, shows that topflight jazz can take rap to a higher level.

There have been earlier forays into rap-jazz fusion, such as Quincy Jones' 1989 album Back on the Block, but today even more musicians are following suit. On his new album 3-D Lifestyles, saxophonist Greg Osby integrates rap into a musical hybrid he calls "streetjazz." The group Gumbo includes jazz- influenced songs on its inventive and idiosyncratic hip-hop album Dropping Soulful H2O on the Fiber, due out this month.

Marsalis is currently finishing up a jazz-rap album of his own. Among those participating: DJ Premiere from the rap group Gang Starr, Posdnuos from De La Soul and poet Maya Angelou. It's a provocative lineup, and the results of this coalition may, by association, help to enhance the cultural significance of rap. Says Marsalis: "Jazz has a certain artistic credibility that can't be ignored." If the I-don't-get-it crowd doesn't get rap now, it never will.

With reporting by Ginia Bellafante/New York