If It's Too Loud...

The collaborative album from Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic, and Damu the Fudgemunk is slowly shaping up to be the hip hop album of the year, or at the very least the hip hop/jazz hybrid album of the year. The second single, "Tulips," is another improvised song from the uncle/nephew team (Archie Shepp is Raw Poetic's uncle). The combination of live hip hop/jazz beats, Raw Poetic's vocals, and Shepp's saxophone is purely intoxicating. Much like the title suggests, "Tulips" is an undeniably positive, nearly sunny song. It's a free level of experimentation missing in today's overly produced hip hop world.  Raw Poetic explains the song:  "I let the spring vibe name the song, and the flower that bloomed was a tulip. Sometimes you gotta let the music spell it out.” You can listen to "Tulips" below. Ocean Bridges , the collaborative album from Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic, and Damu the Fudgemunk, will be out May 22 on Redefinition Records. Yo...

Photo by Earl Davis Jason Moore (aka Raw Poetic) had been sending music to his uncle for years. His uncle happens to be legendary jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp. It wasn't until Shepp heard his nephew's collaborations with producer/DJ Damu the Fudgemunk that he decided he was ready. The trio have an album coming out, and the first single, "Learning to Breathe," is simply a must hear. The album was improvised, and the melding of jazz and hip hop in "Learning to Breathe" is impossibly raw. There is a feeling to the song that you rarely get in modern music, let alone modern hip hop. Jazz and hip hop have been combined before, but rarely does it combine in such an intriguing and immediate way. You can listen to "Learning to Breathe" below. Ocean Bridges , the upcoming album from Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic, and Damu The Fudgemunk will be out on May 22 via Redefinition Records. You can pre-order a copy here .