Robert Glasper: from loopy piano to piano loops.
It was only yesterday that the NPR Music team — those few of us who aren't at South by Southwest — were sitting around talking about the Ahmad Jamal sample on Nas' "The World Is Yours." (Ahem, at 4:58.) The Huntsville, Ala. rap duo G-Side interpolated that very piano loop quite well during their performance in NPR's SXSW day party, and it reminded us how great acoustic piano jazz riffs can be used to make hip-hop beats.
Today, a tipster who shall remain anonymous sent us The Robert Glasper Beat Tape, made by the Montreal-based rap producer Dela. After listening to the pianist's latest record, Double-Booked, Dela was inspired to seek out Glasper's previous effort for Blue Note, In My Element. As he writes, "DAYMN! This album is 1) very dope 2) absolutely full of samples. Some of the interludes are basically hip-hop beats already..." (I presume he knows that Glasper often works with Mos Def, Q-Tip, etc.) So impressed was Dela that he remixed a bunch of samples from the album, and liberated the album-length product as a free download. He urges you to buy In My Element, widely available. We wouldn't disagree. [Mixtape: The Robert Glasper Beat Tape]
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