The playboy recently wrote that Jazz has once again saved Hip-Hop due to Kendrick Lamar and so on. You can just as well say that Hip-Hop in the last decade has not only seriously influenced Jazz but rather several facets of instrumental music. You can hear the ties to Hip-Hop not only in renowned jazzsists like Robert Glasper Matthew Halsall or Kamasi Washington – but also in the Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, native of Hamburg, whose debut album »55« now makes an appearance after 9 years and diverse 7″s. These strong ties to Hip-Hop are made not only via their direct references like in their legendary »P.I.M.P«-cover, but also through dirty 8-track sounds and the unmistakable funky steel drum and drum break-related arrangements. The band around the multi-instrumental Björn Wagner is known for their cover versions, and their diversity spans on the album from B-Boy-classics like »Jungle Fever« or Dennis Coffey’s »Scorpio« to »Love Like This« by Faith Evans or Hi-Teks’ »Round & Round«. Fans of the band already know a lot – with only 7 new titles out of the 16 »55« has, hence it has a hint of a best-of with a couple of bonus tracks. Not an issue though, since these are convincing; with a dubby steel drum version of »Police in Helicopter« you can’t go wrong, but also the compositions »Tropical Heat«, »Port of Spain Hustle« and »Queen of Cheeba«, which are followed by a »Crank That«, which suddenly jumps at you, show what the band can do well, particularly at the same time being timeless and up to date.
55
