Written by: Carlos Mbendera
MF Doom (a legendary rapper) sampled some jazz and now a jazz trio has made a jazz cover featuring MF Doom bangers. Would this be considered Jazz-Ception? Think Inception, but jazzier. If you haven’t watched Inception, it’s fine, I also haven’t watched Inception. The “New Jazz Underground”, a group from New York, New York released a short EP called the “the MF DOOM SUiTE.” The project features 4 jazzy covers of popular MF Doom songs.
- All Caps / Red Clay
- Meat Grinder (remix)
- Accordion
- One Beer (reharm)
The One Beer (reharm) is actually one of my favourite Jazz songs. It features a strong Grand Piano and Sax lead duo with our classic jazzy bass and drums building the rhythmic backdrop. The Sax plays the main melody from the MF Doom rap interpretation while the piano does magical jazz improvisation alongside the melody throughout the song.
All Caps is my second favourite track from this EP. It does not have a super high BPM or anything but it keeps me actively listening. Similar to my description of the One Beer cover, the melody from the original rap rendition is heavily featured.
The other two songs in the middle are alright. They were a bit too slow for me so they became something closer to background music in my mind. Whereby, it’s not bad enough for me to skip but also not awesome enough for me to mentally keep track of what’s happening. I assume this was done on purpose, like a sandwich. Two bangers at the top and bottom with something mid in the middle. However, I should note that in the case of Accordion, I prefer the jazz cover as the original rap version is also remarkably slow.
Overall, the EP was a great listening experience. I’d give the entire fiasco a 4.3 stars out 5. Special shout out to One beer (reharm), it is very much a 5/5.
Want to learn about the individual musicians? Check out their official website and Instagram:
https://www.newjazzunderground.com/
https://www.instagram.com/newjazzunderground/
Just want the music? That’s cool too.
https://www.youtube.com/@newjazzunderground
I’d recommend checking out their YouTube first as it has more content when compared to their Bandcamp.