Kassa Overall
Polyrhythmic jazz drumming meets the grit of underground hip-hop. A restless, laptop-driven sound for late nights and deep focus in the city.
Polyrhythmic jazz drumming meets the grit of underground hip-hop. A restless, laptop-driven sound for late nights and deep focus in the city.
Kassa Overall creates music that feels like a live jazz session happening inside a producer's laptop. It is dusty, rhythmic, and intellectually sharp, blending the improvisational spirit of the New York jazz scene with the loop-based logic of classic boom-bap. The drums are always the heart of the track, often shifting between tight, quantized beats and loose, swinging polyrhythms that keep the listener slightly off-balance.
What makes him truly distinctive is his 'backpack jazz' philosophy. He treats the sampler and the DAW with the same reverence and technical mastery as the drum kit, layering introspective raps and processed vocals over complex harmonic structures. It is a sound that captures the anxiety and beauty of modern urban life, where high-art virtuosity and bedroom-studio intimacy coexist without friction.
Start with 'ANIMALS' or 'Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz' to hear how he bridges these worlds. These albums showcase his ability to recruit elite jazz talent and place them in a sonic environment that feels closer to a Madlib mixtape than a traditional Blue Note recording.
Kassa Purush Overall (born 9 October 1982) is an American jazz drummer, producer, rapper and bandleader.
Shares nu jazz, abstract hip-hop, spoken word, focused work (signature)
Shares drums, nu jazz, avant-garde jazz, upright bass (signature)
Shares drums, nu jazz, abstract hip-hop, upright bass (signature)
Shares abstract hip-hop, nu jazz, spoken word, coffee shop (subgenre)
Shares drums, nu jazz, avant-garde jazz, focused work (signature)
Shares nu jazz, avant-garde jazz, upright bass, focused work (signature)
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