Tag Archives: Doodlebug

Though these were not the first ever to synthesize jazz and hip-hop, Digable Planets epitomized the laid-back charm of jazz hipsters much better than any group before or since. The trio’s 1993 debut recording, Reachin’ (A FRESH Refutation of your time and Space), was a mellow trip packed with examples …

Hip-hop within the ’80s, jazz within the ’60s, and funk within the ’70s are well-documented groundbreaking expressions in Africa-American music. Much less familiar, though, is normally their meeting surface in Cee Understanding as well as the Cosmic Funk Orchestra in 2000, and beyond. Craig Irving, the Philadelphia hip-hop vocalist better …