I'll get straight to the point. One of my friends (a highly proficient keyboard player who's done plenty of composing so far) has decided to invite me to a side-project of his which'll end up as a rock-jazz-rap fusion. No, I have no idea how he intends to meld all that together, but since he's taken the charge he'll decide on that. What I'm interested is in some recommended tracks with decent grooves, something to draw ideas from, what the rhythmic points are etc.

Any help would be appreciated

Rapper's Delight

Parliament Funkadelic. Bootsy Collins. These are some of the sampled basslines that were used to create rap, and still used today.

Let's get retarded - Black Eyed Peas

Rap music usually uses music from R&B, Funk and Disco genres. Some use Rock backgrounds. There is no special 'rap' bassline. Just think along the lines of regular everyday music with rapping instead of singing.

+1

What I would do is find some rap songs you like, then find out where they sampled the music from, and then listen to the original artists.

Rap music usually uses music from R&B, Funk and Disco genres. Some use Rock backgrounds. There is no special 'rap' bassline. Just think along the lines of regular everyday music with rapping instead of singing.

Parliament Funkadelic. Bootsy Collins. These are some of the sampled basslines that were used to create rap, and still used today.

+1 A lot of old Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre songs use samples from Parliament Funkadelic.

In addition, I would recommend checking out some songs from A Tribe Called Quest or MF Doom for some pretty nice bass lines.

Oh, and The Pharcyde. Their basslines tend to be really good too.

Check out anything by The Roots, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, and Common. All of those artists melt those styles together very well.

Jay-Z's stuff has some smokin' bass lines. Actually, that whole band burns.

Seconding the parliament, but lots of other funk groups, like the ohio players and zapp, not to mention james brown (beats/basslines in particular) have been used for endless samples. The only difference is that a sample is looped, so it's very repetetive, and sometimes the groove changes. So if you don't like playing one-chord grooves, this could get boring.

Current hip-hop uses fewer samples and more "original" keyboard lines, but I doubt your pal is trying for rock-jazz-hyphy fusion.

Listen to a group called sleepys theme. Its sleepy brown the son of one of the members or brick and he is part of organized noize. The production team behind the older outkast and goodie mob records. They have a real hip hop meets jazz and blues feel. And Preston crump really holds down the groove. Also check out outkast song wheels of steel. Or even the rapheal saadiq bass line from so fresh so clean.

Its not all just recycle a funk line like some would say. Just follow the chords and play sparse and with a feel that compliments the track

Galactic's "From the Corner to the Block" is their most recent disc and it has several MC's on it like Boots Rily. It's a good example of jam/funk/jazz meets rap.

Digable planets. Its like Bebop hip hop. And add a like rock to that also check out arrested development. They may have only had to really popular cuts but lots of great tracks

Here's a track I did for a cat. Very simple bassline.
http://www.box.net/shared/7pettt2rmr

Here's another track I did for someone.
http://www.box.net/shared/rg1hfelsty

The Roots (Own) , especially when Hub was there (IMO).

+1 on roots comments, is Leonard Hubbard out of the Roots? I know they do some albums with digital/ sample/ mastered beats, but I thought Hub was a fixture.

Current hip-hop uses fewer samples and more "original" keyboard lines, but I doubt your pal is trying for rock-jazz-hyphy fusion.

Actually, that's kind of what he's aiming at. After a recent chat with him I discovered he does intend to go with original - and rather jazzy keyboard lines. So, I'd say this'll be quite the experiment.

Thanks everyone for the input - and thanks for the samples. Not being a hip-hop or a funk listener on a regular basis (though I've become interested in funk as of late due to my bass teacher's influence) this gives me plenty to think and work on.

+1 on roots comments, is Leonard Hubbard out of the Roots? I know they do some albums with digital/ sample/ mastered beats, but I thought Hub was a fixture.

No, I believe he is no longer with the roots (currently Owen Biddle), but man that guy pwned whenever they played live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_(bassist)

listen to lots of different types of rap music and other genres then play like you would.

go listen to the roots.

i did something similar with a few friends that never really went anywhere. anytime we worked it would be a drum machine with a beat that he wanted, i did my thing until he found something he liked then just cut and pasted it.

A lot of stuff by Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac... (Death Row records, basically) has some great bass work (played by live musicians a lot of the time). Mike Elizondo, who's a fairly established song-writer in his own right, plays a lot of these bass lines. Check out the 15 Years of Death Row compilation or the Dre album 2001 for some examples.

Digable planets. Its like Bebop hip hop. And add a like rock to that also check out arrested development. They may have only had to really popular cuts but lots of great tracks

Them and A Tribe Called Quest.

36 Chambers... probably mainly sampled... but damned good.

The Pharcyde, Souls of Mischief and The Roots have great bass-parts.

My favourite line apart from them is probably Legendary Street Team by Kool G Rap and MOP.

+1 on roots comments, is Leonard Hubbard out of the Roots? I know they do some albums with digital/ sample/ mastered beats, but I thought Hub was a fixture.

yeah he left ealier in the year. Owen Biddle (a tb'r) is the new starting bassist in the lineup

Rapper's Delight

You mean "Good Times" by Chic.

Actually, that's kind of what he's aiming at. After a recent chat with him I discovered he does intend to go with original - and rather jazzy keyboard lines. So, I'd say this'll be quite the experiment.

Thanks everyone for the input - and thanks for the samples. Not being a hip-hop or a funk listener on a regular basis (though I've become interested in funk as of late due to my bass teacher's influence) this gives me plenty to think and work on.

Yea, learn funk. You'll need to enforce the rhythm while leaving rhythmic room for the lyricist (kinda like enforcing a melody while leaving room for the guitars/vocalist in rock/country/rnb/jazz/etc).

"Rapping" is really "singing" rhythmically instead of melodically.