Hip-hop and classical music might seem worlds apart, but this orchestra concert works to seamlessly merge the two genres in a way you’ve never experienced before.
“The music pulls from both hip-hop and classical, pushing each genre into uncharted territory,” said JooWan Kim, composer and artistic director of the Hip Hop Orchestra Experience. “It breaks away from the 16-bar rhyme structure, and there are elongated musical interludes inserted into the pieces at totally unexpected points, with unusually long length, odd meters and meter changes. It’s a new genre of music.”
The Hip Hop Orchestra Experience is coming to Dallas-Fort Worth this spring. This performance is part of the show’s tour celebrating the premiere of its two films Method Sampling: How to Build The Future Together and The Hip-Hop Orchestra Experience.
“People should come watch the show to experience a masterful performance of music that is revolutionary and cutting edge from both a creative and technical standpoint,” said Unity Lewis, resident MC of the Hip Hop Orchestra Experience. “The subject matter in this artistic display of rhythms and rhymes is also extremely compelling and thought-provoking. It’s unlike anything I have ever witnessed as a consumer of entertainment, and also one of the most unique and high-caliber presentations that I have had the honor to take part in as a contributing artist-musician.”
Kim created the Hip Hop Orchestra Experience by accident while working on his master’s in composition 15 years ago. It was his way of protesting what he considered the oppressive concert music aesthetic. When he premiered it, it enraged his professors but the audience loved it. He then went on to create an album.
The show is a fusion of concert and dance party, featuring Kim’s captivating musical score and Lewis’ powerful rhymes. Yung Phil’s dynamic turf dancing is set to the backdrop of a 25-piece chamber orchestra, which includes flute, oboe, clarinet, French horns, bassoons, strings, piano and drums.
Together, they reimagine and deconstruct works by Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, infusing them with funky rhythms and rapid-fire rhymes.
“We have a radical claim here at [The Hip Hop Orchestra Experience] that all profound innovation only happens via this process we call ‘Method Sampling,’ ” Kim said. He said the process occurs “by sampling a portion of methods from classical and hip-hop, adding them to each other and thereby substituting existing mechanisms of each genre. My initial strategy in writing this kind of music was to use only classical compositional techniques and acoustic instruments to re-create hip-hop beats. However, what ended up happening was neither hip-hop nor classical music, but something new.”
Details: March 14 at 8 p.m. at Eisemann Center for the Arts, 2351 Performance Drive, Richardson. Tickets are $35 to $45. The show is recommended for viewers 16 and up.
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