Blogs

Grammy nominated Hip-Hop Jazz Artist, The ZYG 808 demonstrates that he embraces more than the musical styl of the conscious hip-hop era, through community involvement and artisitc collaboration.

"Hip-Hop, started out in the park..." is a famous line from songs by both MC Shan and Lauren Hill. Hip-Hop was born as a community activity on August 11, 1973 in the Bronx when a DJ called Kool Herc threw a back to school party in the community room at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. Around the same time, former warlo

Hip-Hop Jazz Percussionist struts his stuff and wins first place in the Mashpee Middle High School Talent Show. Performs song from upcoming album.

When you're 14 years old and have already headlined three jazz festivals, performed for crowds of 48,000 people and spent your last summer on tour as opposed to cutting lawns, a high school talent show might seem a bit passé, but not for The ZYG 808. When notices for auditions went up he jumped at the opportunity.

Mashpee Middle High School held it's ta

As a performer and historian, The ZYG attends historic event, kicking of the collecting of memorabilia and memories of the Hip-Hop movements growth and development in Massachusetts, parallel to the New York scene.

Part of being a Griot is being a historian and keeper of information about those things that led to the present. After absorbing the available history of Hip-hop in the Bronx, the next logical step was to look at Hip-hop's evolution in cities like Boston, where it's contributions and in

The spirit energy that fueled Hip-hop can be found in the

 parks of The Bronx. The ZYG pays a visit to his musical roots and talks about the African, African American, and Caribbean oral and musical traditions that are at the roots of rap music.

BRONX, NY - Standing in Devoe Park, The ZYG finds himself literally at one of the significant crossroads ofHip-hop, where Sedewick Avenue and Fordam Road intersect. Many years ago in this same spot, Hip-hop pioneers like Grandmaster Caz, and DJ Whiz manned

Hip-Hop MC & child prodigy, master percussionist, The ZYG steps into the hip-hop game with a different sense of raps place in the continuum of spoken-word and the oral tradition.

Before he picked up a microphone, legendary Hip-hop MC, Rakim Allah, was a tenor sax player. His sense of phrasing and flow as an MC was clearly shaped by his exposure to and participation in playing jazz. Likewise is true for the 14 year-old MC , The Z.Y.G., who holds Rakim on the mantle among his other influences in MC