[Harp-L] Harp-Hop

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan Metts writes:

"You should check out G. Love & Special Sauce. He plays a resonator  
guitar with rack harp, and the music is a combination of hip hop and  
traditional blues."


I've heard him, and have an album somewhere (my collection is a true  
mess).  But I always felt he was more blues in focus with a bit of  
hip-hop, like some of the others I mentioned, rather than primarily a  
hip-hop artist.  Part of the difference for me is the emphasis and  
style of beat, and the way the harmonica is being used in that.   
Also, hip-hop tends to focus less on straightahead playing (as G Love  
does, and does fairly well, IIRC, and as a few bands such as the  
Roots are known for) but more cutting and pasting things together,  
which is where I feel Bad News Brown is being rather innovative--he's  
playing harmonica, but then using that playing as an element of hip- 
hop, rather than on top of it, as it were.

Still, I see  G Love as both an innovator and a precursor to someone  
like BNB's usage of the instrument and genre.





 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()
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