When it comes to Hip-Hop history, not mentioning Jazz music’s influence would be a serious omission, but in turn, Hip-Hop also left its imprint on Jazz development.
Artists commonly credited as Hip-Hop godfathers such as Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets took inspiration from Jazz’s cadence, improvisation, and rhythms.
Most early Hip-Hop artists grew up listening to genres such as Jazz, Funk, and Soul or had direct connections within those scenes. Nas’ father was for instance none other than Olu Dara, a renowned jazz trumpeter. Thus it only makes sense that those artists would be influenced by Jazz music. Sampling typically illustrates that.
Sampling consists of artists incorporating extracts from preexisting records into their own productions. This technique emerged in the late 1970s from the Breakbeat. Hip-Hop DJs such as DJ Kool Herc started to play two identical records to isolate and loop the breaks, the most danceable parts. Parts of those breaks were thus taken from Jazz instrumentals.
Jazz greatly shaped Hip-Hop.
Reciprocally Hip-Hop also had an impact on Modern Jazz, one of the notable artists being J Dilla and his approach to beat-making and more generally, drums. J Dilla made his own drums on an MPC3000 and rather than playing them perfectly on time with the beat, he sometimes swung them slightly, adding more depth and thus a swinging side to his beats. Jazz musicians in turn adopted this new rhythmic approach.
Nowadays though the connection between Hip-Hop and Jazz is not so obvious. Sampling has been increasingly regulated, and clearing samples is quite expensive. And so is recording or playing live with a band.
Fortunately, some artists are dedicated to perpetuating the connection between those two genres, and SAMO KHIYOTA is one of them.
Last month, I had the opportunity to talk with him, learning more about his approach to music, the unique venue that he runs, and his activities with the band The Sound Of Yancey Club (SOYC). This wouldn’t have been possible without the help of BV Hai M, who kindly helped as an interpreter.
Without further ado, let’s take a dive into Seoul’s Hip-Hop Jazz Scene along with SAMO KHIYOTA.
I/. SAMO KHIYOTA, from Old School Hip-Hop to Jazz
SAMO KHIYOTA entered the scene as a Hip-Hop DJ and producer. He made his official debut along with the group Young Vinyls in May 2017 with “Tastyyy” featured by DJ Noah, a pre-release single to the EP “Young Vinyls & Samo‘” unveiled a few months later in September 2017.
The project has a nice BoomBap vibe, and you can already feel Jazz influences, especially on the song ‘REWI
To this SAMO KHIYOTA confided that he always loved the genre, but at that time he didn’t really have connections within the Korean Jazz Scene, except for the RnB/Soul Singer Horim (호림). On October 2018 you could for instance hear SAMO KHIYOTA‘s contribution to the song “The Light” from Horim’s (호림) album “Metrocity“.
It’s therefore thanks to Horim (호림) that SAMO KHIYOTA first got to connect with Jazz musicians.
It was also around the same time that SAMO KHIYOTA launched Yancey Club.
II/. Yancey Club
Located in Mapo-gu district in Seoul, between Sangsu and Gwangheungchang Stations, Yancey Club could be described as a Jazz club that plays Hip-Hop.
With this venue that will celebrate its 7th anniversary this year, SAMO KHIYOTA developed a place for Hip-Hop artists and Jazz musicians to meet around unique performances.
At a time when Hip-Hop performances accompanied by acoustic musicians are getting increasingly rare because of the significant costs they represent, initiatives that encourage the encounter of those two worlds are more than welcomed.
During my last 3-month stay in Seoul, I got to attend a lot of performances, and I must say that the ones held at Yancey Club are among the most memorable ones. I went to Yancey Club on two occasions, to see the duo O’KOYE (full analysis of their album here) as well as Horim (호림) along with the rapper GU IS 9. Not only were those performances prime music moments, but the atmosphere of the venue itself added to the concert. If you get the opportunity, I recommend you to experience this first-hand.
III/. When life influences music
Over those years directing Yancey Club, SAMO KHIYOTA thus got more and more surrounded by Jazz musicians which consequently influenced his sound.
About this, SAMO KHIYOTA cherishes an interview extract from the famous Jazz Pianist Ahmad Jamal, that he even sampled in the tribute song “고마워요, 아마드! (THE SOUND OF YANCEY CLUB 1 – THX, AHMAD !)” made with his band SOYC.
“What does music bring to my life?”, the question should be the reverse, “what does life bring to my music?”
I don’t care if you are Emile Zola, Chekhov, Ravel, Ahmad Jamal or Debussy, Duke Ellington. We are only receiving vessels, we don’t create, in my opinion, we only reflect creativity.
Music brings certain things into my life, and my life brings certain things into the music. It all works together. They’re not separate.
Words from Ahmad Jamal (at 4:30 min)
Starting as a Hip-Hop DJ/producer SAMO KHIYOTA progressively integrated more and more Jazz sonorities. Life; his experience with Yancey Club, brought to his music. It however doesn’t mean that he is forgetting his Hip-Hop roots. It’s not about moving from one genre to another but rather striving to create new types of sounds by combining both Hip-Hop composition techniques and sounds along with a Jazz Band.
Relying exclusively on techniques traditionally associated with DJing such as scratching is too restraining in his opinion though. He doesn’t want to act as a DJ/Producer who would only add some Hip-Hop flavors to a Jazz band.
For this purpose, he is trying to develop a new approach to the discipline, which is partly focused on a seamless progression through his set/performance, especially thanks to the use of samples.
IV/. Adding soul to music thanks to the sampling technique
Samples are indeed a great part of his artistry, and on this topic, he gives an alternative meaning to what Ahmad Jamal used to say.
“We are only receiving vessels, we don’t create, in my opinion, we only reflect creativity.”
Through those words, Ahmad Jamal meant that every original creation is actually the result of external influences, or our experiences and history. But for SAMO KHIYOTA those words also resonated with his use of sampling. Reflecting creativity by taking a sample of an existing record and altering it to create a new composition, a new interpretation.
It would thus only make sense for SAMO KHIYOTA to be mindful of the samples he chooses. No such thing as using Splice, a sample library commonly used in the industry; he rather looks for samples from old LPs, YouTube videos, or just about any sounds that inspire him. For instance, the song “고마워요, 아마드! (THE SOUND OF YANCEY CLUB 1 – THX, AHMAD !)” released last November starts with samples from two special performers, his cats Yancey and DEE DEE!
The creative process behind this song is actually very interesting.
V/. The Sound Of Yancey Club, when a Jazz band and a Hip-Hop DJ create together
As mentioned in the title, this song is not only a song from SAMO KHIYOTA, but from the Jazz band The Sound Of Yancey Club (SOYC) that he directs. To be more precise, SOYC is a resident performance team at Yancey Club with no fixed members except for the flutist 이규재 (Lee Gyu-Jae) and the saxophonist LAZYKUMA.
So how do they proceed?
The particularity of SOYC’s music is that it’s a mix of freestyle and post-production.
Usually when they gather to perform they first start by defining the rough form of the song, whether it’s the core melody or the general organization of the solo parts.
In the case of “고마워요, 아마드! (THE SOUND OF YANCEY CLUB 1 – THX, AHMAD !)“, if you listen to the song, you will quickly notice the repetition of a motif and its variations as the song progresses. That melody just came to his mind and because it sounded good he decided they would freestyle from it.
During the performance, SAMO KHIYOTA kind of acts both like a DJ and a conductor, adding layers with samples to smooth out the transitions within the song. Not only is this whole process quite instinctual, but there is also another compelling aspect to it. Because they perform live to an audience, to some extent the crowd’s response also has some impact on the song’s evolution.
But his work doesn’t stop there. After the live execution of the piece, starts the post-production.
SAMO KHIYOTA reviews the original freestyle piece and then arranges it further by adding new layers, be it by then again adding samples, toning down, or highlighting some instrumental parts. Between the original freestyle and its release on the streaming platforms, the song evolves; it’s a continuous experience for the audience which rediscovers the song yet in a new evolutive form. Familiar, yet not quite identical.
Whether it’s SOYC’s “THX, AHMAD!” or “DOUBLE DRUMMING SESSION IN YANCEYCLUB (Freestyle)” released in October 2021, the result of this process is hypnotic. To a certain degree, the repetition of the melody brings a heady side to the piece, while its variation keeps you hooked as you can’t predict how the song will evolve, or which surprises the musicians and the samples will bring. It’s a rather unique experience.
From old-school Hip-Hop production to opening a special kind of Jazz club, SAMO KHIYOTA draws from his influences to contribute to the blend of the Korean Hip-Hop and Jazz scenes. Not only does he provide a meeting space for those two genres with Yancey Club, but in cooperation with Jazz musicians he also strives to develop a new creative output that would blend those genres.
