Grammy-nominated drummer Kassa Overall delivers his most audacious conceptual statement with CREAM, an album that recontextualises hip-hop classics as jazz standards while honouring both traditions with scholarly precision. This isn’t mere novelty but rather a profound examination of the shared DNA between America’s two greatest musical exports.

Overall describes lived experience and nostalgia as motivating factors in song selection.

“I remember when I first heard ‘Big Poppa,’ my homie hopped in the car and said, ‘put this on’,” said Overall. “I remember driving around and listening to ‘Aquemini’ for like a year and a half and feeling like the world had changed. I just tried to pick ones that take me back to something. When you’re working with material that gives you an emotional trigger, it’s easier to spark the creativity.”

Opening with Miles Davis’s “Freedom Jazz Dance,” Overall establishes his thesis that jazz and hip-hop exist on the same continuum. His transformation of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa” into a swinging samba demonstrates masterful arrangement skills, while the Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” (the album’s namesake) becomes a vehicle for extended improvisation. The Outkast classic “Spottieottiedopaliscious” allows Overall’s ensemble to explore the song’s inherent jazz harmonies, revealing connections that were always present but rarely examined.

Overall’s approach transcends simple reharmonization. His reading of Dr. Dre’s “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang” simultaneously references Leon Haywood’s original sample and creates something entirely new. Each track maintains the essential character of the original while expanding its harmonic and rhythmic possibilities. The result is an album that speaks to both jazz purists and hip-hop heads, proving that the boundaries between genres are often more constructed than real.