Review: Korean Rap Producer Peejay Reexamines Hip-Hop's Jazz Roots On 'I Get Lifted' Featuring Beenzino [VIDEO]

Pop quiz: what's the most recent rap song you can think of featuring a live saxophone solo?

It's a bit of a trick question, since unless you are reading this in the distant future, the new single "I Get Lifted" featuring Beenzino, from South Korean producer Peejay's "WALKIN' Vol. 1" album released on Saturday, has to be it by a serious margin.

During hip-hop's humble beginnings in the 1970s block parties of the South Bronx and the socially conscious acts that grew out of that groundbreaking scene, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane were as discernible an influence as James Brown or George Clinton.

But much in the same way that many modern rock bands seem to forego any trace of the ragged Delta blues that was the original blueprint, foundation and fuel of rock n' roll in favor of a slickly digital sound, few rap artists ever acknowledge the jazz roots at the heart of the genre.

But you don't have to tell Peejay about hip-hop history.

Beenzino's go -to producer dials in a vintage early 1990s rap sound that would have Tribe Called Quest beatmaker Ali Shaheed Muhammad bopping his head. These guys have clearly done their homework. The sound on "I Get Lifted" is as natural as two friends coming together to make something they both dig; of course these two friends happen to be two of Korean hip-hop's preeminent artists.

In the same way that it took British kids like John Lennon or Keith Richards to make American kids appreciate their own blue legacy, maybe American producers can take a page from Peejay and Beenzino's book and blend some more jazz into the brew.

Watch the music video for the new single from South Korean producer Peejay "I Get Lifted" featuring Beenzino RIGHT HERE

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