Fab 5 Freddie (Born Fred Brathwaite), is an American filmmaker, and visual artist, and one of the first rappers to have pioneered the genre of hip hop. He simply started by making some beats and writing casual lines with a DJ friend of his, so as to perform at street block parties in Brooklyn. Freddie’s godfather, Max Roach, is one of the first links that tie together the genres of jazz and hip hop. When Freddie’s father (also a big jazz fanatic) told Max what his son was up, Max became interested right away. He went over to Freddie’s friends house and recorded some music with them, and later even appeared on a live television show with Fab 5 Freddie. He was very encouraging of Freddie’s art, which he himself at the time did not even consider music, and has since compared the innovations that are being made in hip hop, to those made by the early beboppers such as Bird and Dizzy. For Max, hip hop is a way to reinstitute an African consciousness in African American music.

“Max said ‘…you know western music has for a long period of time been a balancing of three different things: melody, harmony and rhythm in equal ways. As black folks have been involved in music we’ve added an increasing emphasis on the rhythm element throughout the development of this music.’ …. He said ‘what you guys are doing is just totally rhythm…'”

Hip hop and jazz are a part of the same continuum of African American music. The fact that Max Roach was aware of this so early is a testament to his intelligence and great sensitivity as a musician.

Max Roach believed that the development of rap and hip hop culture relates to a decline in funding for arts and music programs in schools, which meant that all of a sudden, children who were interested in music, didn’t have the opportunity to learn an instrument. As a result, this creative energy was redirected in a more raw approach to music, eventually giving rise to the genre of hip hop and rap.

Another jazz musician who is very aware of the ties that the music shares with hip hop, is Miles Davis. His later work incorporates a lot of elements of hip hop, such as the backbeat played on the drums, the rhythms and instrumentation more closely associated with hip hop, and as is the case with the song Doo Bop, even rapping itself. In fact, it was Max Roach who first introduced Miles to the hip hop and rap scene, when he showed him Fab 5 Freddie’s show “Yo MTV Raps”, the first television show that acted as a platform to feature hip hop and rap acts.

https://jazztimes.com/columns/independentear/fab-5-freddy-the-max-roach-influence/

A jazz upbringing @ the roots of hip hop