Retaining a New Format: Jazz-Rap, Cultural Memory, and the New Cultural Politics of Difference

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, an influential strain of alternative hip hop known as "jazz-rap" emerged. As the term implies, jazz-rap frequently incorporates elements of jazz, either through recorded samples or through live instrumentation. In addition, jazz-rap is often characterized by politically-oriented, socially progressive lyrics. This essay examines the jazz-rap trend of the early 1990s, focusing in particular on early recordings by jazz-rap pioneers Stetsasonic, Gang Starr, and Guru, and on the 1994 compilation album Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool and the roughly contemporaneous film of the same name, both of which document a historic convergence of hip hop and jazz musicians in support of AIDS research.