(March 8, 2020) The hip-hop artist JSWISS has a flow to his cadence and a mastery of wordplay that makes his music ideally suited to be paired with jazz. I realized that last year when I heard “You Do It,” one of his tracks from the excellent Every Word is a Dollar album.
On that track JSWISS tells his listeners that people who achieve great accomplishments are not inaccessible superheroes who cracked some secret goals, but are just men and woman who are willing to put in the work -- he spits lyrics encouraging that they can reach their goals. His flow snakes through an around an improvised saxophone. In that way, jazz fused into JSWISS’ work as a rapper.
(March 8, 2020) The hip-hop artist JSWISS has a flow to his cadence and a mastery of wordplay that makes his music ideally suited to be paired with jazz. I realized that last year when I heard “You Do It,” one of his tracks from the excellent Every Word is a Dollar album.
On that track JSWISS tells his listeners that people who achieve great accomplishments are not inaccessible superheroes who cracked some secret goals, but are just men and woman who are willing to put in the work -- he spits lyrics encouraging that they can reach their goals. His flow snakes through an around an improvised saxophone. In that way, jazz fused into JSWISS’ work as a rapper.
On the just released “Always Knew,” JSWISS works with legendary New Orleans trumpet player Nicholas Payton on a track that celebrates that looking back on his life and accomplishments with the assurance that through all the ups and downs that he was always certain of where his path would lead.
In Payton, JSWISS chose to work that an artist who brings the kind of creativity to his horn playing that Swiss brings to his craft. Check “Always Knew” out here.
By Howard Dukes
JSWISS - "Always Knew"