Kassa Overall Covers Digable Planets

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Photo by Erik Bardin

For his upcoming album, jazz artist Kassa Overall has chosen to cover eight hip hop classics in an instrumental jazz style. The first song we can hear from this is a cover of Digable Planets' iconic "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)." The original was one of the breakthrough tracks for the jazz rap movement of the 90's, but Overall still reworks the song completely for his version. The instantly familiar horn line starts the song, and then Overall goes for it. It feels much more experimental and free than you would expect from a cover song, and if you missed the first minute or so you might not even realize it's a version of "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)." This is a great sampling of Overall's upcoming album that will make you desperate to hear his take's on Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, OutKast, and more.

Kassa Overall says of his reworking of "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)":

“It nods to Digable Planets’ smooth flow and Art Blakey’s ‘Stretching.’ Knowing the song so well, I was able to flip the script with odd time rhythms and utilize many elements from the original, from vocal parts to production details. This one is high energy and still crispy.”

You can watch the video for Kassa Overall's cover of "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" below. CREAM is due out September 12 on Warp Records, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Kassa Overall, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video and include September 6 at De La Luz in Holyoke, MA, September 9 at Cafe 939 in Boston, MA, and Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club in Portsmouth, NH.


July 2025
11th - Siligo - Sardinia, IT
12th - Gaeta Jazz Festival - IT
13th - North Sea Jazz Festival - NL
17th - Gretchen - Berlin, DE
18th - Bari Jazz Festival - IT
19th - WROsound - Wroclaw, PL
 
September 2025
3rd - Solar Myth - Philadelphia, PA, USA
4th - Mannys - State College, PA, USA
5th - Otis Mountain Get Down - Elizabethtown, NY, USA
6th - De La Luz - Holyoke, MA, USA
8th - The Falcon - Marlboro, NY, USA
9th - Cafe 939 - Boston, MA, USA
10th - Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club - Portsmouth, NH, USA
12th - Jazz Gallery - New York, NY, USA
13th - Jazz Gallery - New York, NY, USA
14th - Keystone Korner - Baltimore, MD, USA
16th - Snug Harbor - Charlotte, NC, USA
17th - Missy Lane's - Durham, NC, USA
18th - Missy Lane's - Durham, NC, USA
 
October 2025
8th - Blue Note Tokyo - Tokyo, JP 
9th - Blue Note Tokyo - Tokyo, JP 
10th - Blue Note Tokyo - Tokyo, JP 
23rd - Minaret - Los Angeles, CA, USA
25th - Earshot - Seattle, WA, USA
31st - JazzKlub - Frankfurt, DE
 
November 2025
3rd - Lower Third - London, UK
6th - Mladi Ladi Jazz - Prague, CZ
8th - Rockit - Groningen, NL

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