Five legendary rappers who are also talented instrumentalists
There is, for obvious reasons, a tremendous amount of value placed upon a rapper’s ability to write and deliver lyrics. This, broadly speaking, is what differentiates rap from other musical forms.
But whatever way you look at it, rappers are musicians, too. What they do is more than plain poetry, and they clearly need to have an astute understanding of music in order to succeed. But some of them, naturally enough, are more accomplished musicians than others.
Sampling has long formed a core part of hip-hop music production, while digital production techniques have, through the years, become increasingly crucial to hip-hop’s sound. But live instrumentation also has its place in the compositions of hip-hop, and certain rappers take it upon themselves to do it.
Some out-and-out rap legends have managed to excel with their instruments, with a few even incorporating their skills into their own beats. While hardly exhaustive, here is a snapshot of some of the biggest rappers to ever master an instrument or two.
Five legendary rappers who are also talented instrumentalists
5. Mac Miller
Mac Miller’s love affair with music started young. He was only five or six when he was first gifted a keyboard, and, by his own admission, he “hooked that thing up and never stopped playing it.” But it wasn’t only his keyboard that he worked to master growing up, as he picked up piano, guitar, drums, and bass along the way. It was only when he was a fair bit older, aged 14, that he started rapping.
Mac’s musicianship was far more rounded than might initially be apparent by simply listening to his rap songs. His skills, though, were on clear display for a side project he launched in 2012, with the release of a jazz-inspired EP. This work was released under the guise of an imaginary band called Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival, although it was mostly Mac playing all the instruments.
4. J Cole
It’s fairly widely known that J Cole is a producer of some renown, making beats for both his own songs and for those of other artists. While sampling has long fascinated him, even when he was a kid, incorporating live instrumentation is also a key part of Cole’s approach. For that, he can draw upon his considerable self-taught abilities on the guitar, piano and bass.
What’s less known about Cole is that he grew up playing the violin, taking lessons as a kid and even participating in a youth orchestra. These experiences are as key to his sound as any others, as they imbued him with a particular knack for composing. They shaped the music he would later become famous for.
3. Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav is the ultimate hype man, sprinkling a little excitement onto proceedings and allowing his Public Enemy partner Chuck D to really shine on stage. His role was to get the crowd going, while Chuck could deliver on the more intricate rapping. Flav had his own moments as a rapper, but, by and large, it was less about his musicianship and more about his ability to interact with the crowd.
There’s an irony to that, because Flavor Flav is something of a musical prodigy. He taught himself piano from about the age of five, while he later picked up drums, piano and guitar. He performed in a youth choir, too, and was otherwise an extremely gifted young musician. According to Chuck, speaking to The Guardian in 2006, Flav can actually play about 15 different instruments.
2. Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys became legends of hip-hop through their long career, but they never lost their punk roots. They started out as an out-and-out hardcore punk group called the Young Aborigines, with Mike D playing the drums. Initially there were other members in the band, but, over time, they were replaced by MCA on bass and Ad-Rock on guitar.
Beastie Boys remained firmly a punk band at first, with their debut EP, 1982’s Polly Wog Stew, decidedly still being hardcore in sound. It was only with the release of the song ‘Cooky Puss’ the following year that the group moved towards a hip-hop sound, although they never truly lost their rock sensibilities.
1. André 3000
Rap fans were so desperate for André 3000 to release an album, and, in 2023, it finally happened. It became clear that Dré was to release his first ever solo album, an exciting prospect indeed. But what people hadn’t counted on was that he would not be rapping on it. Not at all. It was, as we know now, an album of his flute compositions, and it proved to be really quite good.
New Blue Sun is an 87-minute-long, flute-powered odyssey, with André evidently taking inspiration from a spiritual jazz tradition. He performs on a range of different flutes throughout the record, demonstrating his dedication to the instrument. New Blue Sun was not the direction his fans necessarily expected him to go in, but, for at least some, it was surely an exciting one.