Tonight Jam celebrates it's 8th Birthday party in the
Pavilion, it's home for the last 12 months. When we started
Jam all those years ago, myself and Joe Kelly, both then at the Savoy, wanted to create a hip-hop night that reflected all aspects of it's culture. We have had loads of different venues and loads of different personnel since then, but ultimately the ethos of the night have remained intact and there are big plans for the future.
In the next two months Jam will welcome hip-hop guests such the
Icon the Mic King, N.A.S.A., and Lexicon, while we also have a soul special coming up early July as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of
Motown records with a big party. Meanwhile, local Cork funk act the
Impressionists launch their EP at Jam in mid July, a proud moment as they were one of the acts who have been with us for many years in Jam Junior, the teenage party that helped give many young performers good experience in playing to a big crowd.
Jam Junior is now gone but we are still running events that youngsters can attend, and in late June I'm putting together some good acts for the
Future Sound of Cork as part of the Midsummer Festival, while our Lexicon show on July 11th is all ages and will also showcase some of the best Cork talent too. The main Jam is now running twice a month on Fridays with some extra shows thrown in on occasion, and tomorrow we will be playing all the classics from over the years.
Jam has been involved in bringing some excellent acts to Cork and some of the best shows included
Roy Ayers, Jazzy Jeff, DJ Noize, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Noelle, Run DMC and De La Soul. Most of the best Irish acts have performed at Jam too, including
The Infomatics, Tu-ki, Ri-Ra, DJ Flip and Rob Kelly while pretty much everyone involved in hip-hop in Cork has played shows there. From the amazing performance of youngsters such as
B Wonder, Ross Brown and Scooby at the very first Jam Junior as the Trilogy, to the first shows by
Mickey Gatch and Nash, Bony and Jaae and most young Cork rappers, we have had some great shows.
GMC won the very first Rap battle at Jam Junior, while
Aosdana, Ruby, Brozy and of course our very own breakdancing legends,
the Rhythm Rebels, have been part of the family too. Here are some big tunes you might hear tonight!
The Beatnuts-Watch out Now
J-Lo sampled it, but the New York boys created an anthem it on this one
Amerie-1 Thing
Rich Harrison produced funk bomb from the mid-noughties
Jaylib-The Red
The best hip-hop producers of the last 15 years combine
Sunshine Anderson-Heard it all Before
Soul music that was new but sounded vintage at the same time
Raphael Saadiq-Sky Can You Feel Me
Another modern day soul classic from the the genius of Raphael Saadiq
Peanut Butter Wolf and Charizma-Devotion
Stones Throw classic from sadly departed rapper
Common-Go
Kanye West produced gem from the album "Be"
Jill Scott-Golden
One of soul musics best songwriters with a career highlight
Jay Z-Roc Boyz
The Menahan Street Bands original gets the Jigga treatment
Red Astaire-Follow Me
D'Angelo didn't know much about this latin grooved remix that is still massive
