Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Five Sounds and Instruments Heard in Herbie Hancock’s Hip-Hop/Jazz Amalgam “Rockit”


This electric eighties jam from a jazz veteran helped make hip-hop mainstream.
by Rich Watson 


The song “Rockit” by Herbie Hancock came around the time when hip-hop music was still new and unfamiliar to mainstream audiences. By combining the art of “scratching” vinyl records with a jazz sensibility, it helped legitimize the sound born of DJ house parties and inner city streets.

Hancock used more than scratches and samples on the song, though.

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 11, 2024 at 7:20 AM

    This is (Go Retro) Pam - I don't know why my browser isn't letting me sign into my Google account to post a comment as my profile. Anyways, I think I only heard Rockit once or twice on the 80s on Eight station of Sirius for the entire five years or so that I had a subscription and that's a travesty. It's a classic. And it was only recently that I looked up the music video, having never seen it!

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  2. RichMay 11, 2024 at 8:02 AM

    Pam! Welcome to my new online home.

    You had never seen the “Rockit” video? Pretty cool, isn’t it? I wanted to say more about it, but I didn’t want to make my post too long.i have the song on my Spotify playlist, along with a few other instrumental hits from the 80s, like the theme to “Miami Vice” and “Axel F,” but I really like this one.

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