Kassa Overall Reimagines Classics with New Album CREAM – Set for 2025 Launch
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In 2025, Kassa Overall, a visionary in the world of jazz and a recipient of the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award, gears towards another milestone as he plans to unveil his latest work called CREAM. The upcoming album, which promises to be more than just a collection of covers, showcases eight reimagined versions of hip-hop classics from The Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, OutKast, A Tribe Called Quest, and more. Artistically bringing together hip-hop and his jazz roots, these reinvented hits do not involve any samples, overdubs, vocals, or drum machines. Instead, they highlight live, raw, and innovative sessions involving a band of excellent musicians led by Overall himself on drums.
Born Kassa Purush Overall in the late 1982, the influential artist grew up with music in his bloodlines in Seattle. His early signs of musical talent were nurtured at the renowned Garfield High School, the same institution that produced legendary musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones. He began playing the drums at a young age, and his growing passion for music was cemented at Oberlin Conservatory. Being multidimensional, he interspersed his jazz lessons with his personal interest in hip-hop beat making.
The avant-garde musician has been based in Brooklyn, New York for over a decade. There, Overall further stretched the horizon of his musical capabilities, working alongside acclaimed jazz figures like Christian McBride and Ravi Coltrane. He also had the chance to share the stage with Jon Batiste on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He even contributed on songs for Yoko Ono and Francis and the Lights while nosediving into the world of rap and music production. He released his debut album “Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz” in 2019, while his second album hit the shelf in 2020 through Gilles Peterson’s label Brownswood Recordings.
Furthermore, his career milestones include being featured in The New York Times’ overview of 21st Century Jazz Music. Grammy Award-winning artist Terri Lyne Carrington highlighted Overall as a game-changer of the new generation who can blend and lay out genres effectively through his expertise in production and knack for harmonious and melodious song forms.
Stirring up the music landscape, Overall’s forthcoming album CREAM, proudly produced by Warp Records – an independent British label known for prioritizing albums and building longevity for artists, promises a new dimension to the artist’s already diverse catalogue. Warp Records has worked with a roster of innovative acts, from Aphex Twin to Flying Lotus, earning the respect of The Independent, The Guardian, and Resident Advisor as one of the influential labels in the industry.
In concluding, CREAM forms part of Overall’s continuous pursuit in integrating the freedom of jazz music with the heart of hip-hop, while staying true to his ethos of creating in the moment. With the fusion of his avant-garde artistry and Warp Records’ record of long-term artist development, Kassa Overall’s upcoming album is expected to re-establish the benchmarks of a genre-crossing music artist.
Learn more about Kassa Overall