Ties of Jazz and Rap in United States Popular Culture

In the Broadway musical Hamilton, there are several extrinsically interesting musical choices. Specifically, because the musical centers around the founding of American government as told by black Americans, jazz music is portrayed in relation to the character Thomas Jefferson. It is fascinating how the musical specifically chooses to make Thomas Jefferson’s solo in a jazz style because he, in actual history and the musical, is mostly working in France.

The first reason that this musical’s choice is so brilliant is because the entire play is set in a hip hop and rap style. Thomas Jefferson’s solo, however, is in an old school, traditionally African American, ragtime style. Of course, this makes the character quirkily stand out. This juxtaposition in fact is a testimony to the way jazz stands out and tells a story unapologetically. In the sense of the musical, Jefferson is difficult to write into a story because his principals and ideas are so incredibly different and in conflict to most of the characters. Along with this, Jefferson is so often in France that it is awkward to write him into a story. The musical takes advantage of this character being out of place and connects it to what the audience already recognizes. People expect jazz to demand to be different. The genre implies complexity, awkwardness, power, opposition, and struggle. So naturally, the musical needed to put Jefferson and jazz together.

Hamilton also uses a very specific form of jazz. The use of ragtime and boogie-woogie are tied to the South. In reference to my post about Cab Calloway, there are very clear ties to the South in their use of scat music and the evolution of hip hop. This is a fantastic use of inspiration in Hamilton because they take so much from Cab Calloway and modern hip hop. Jefferson, a Virginian, would certainly be loyal to the Southern styles of music and because he was in France he remained loyal as such. Coming back to the US, however, he found himself in a sea of his own evolved culture with all of his collogues heavily affected and influenced by the close ties of jazz and rap. The same ties apply on a lesser scale to soul and funk.

Finally, the musical inadvertently brings to light something unfortunately widely true for the history of jazz and its ties to African American history. The access to the Broadway show was almost exclusively available to upper middle class and upper-class white Americans. Hamilton, although prided on its progressive stance and use of an all-black cast, primarily benefitted one group. It is a way for white Americans to profit off of and feel progressive by watching black actors. The same is also true for jazz. Southern African American jazz musicians played for the better, all white, jazz clubs. Upper class, white, often older Americans can appreciate jazz while at the same time demeaning rap music directly derived from jazz. They refuse to see the poetry in works by artists like Kendrick Lamar because it is associated with lower class, violent, or uneducated individuals, which bottom line perpetuates systemic racism

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