
Gospejazzical Pioneer to Moderate Panel with Hip-Hop Icons Dr. John Paul McGee, Berklee's assistant chair of piano, will guide a discussion with a group that includes Cheryl Salt James of Salt-N-Pepa about the influence of jazz and R&B on early hip-hop.
By
Daniel Pesquera
August 16, 2023
John Paul McGee, assistant chair of Berklees Piano Department
Image courtesy of John Paul McGee
Dr. John Paul McGee, assistant chair of Berklees Piano Department, is a notable authority on the relationship between music and spirituality. A native of Baltimore, where he grew up playing piano for his local church, he would later pursue doctoral work that pioneered a new genre dubbed gospejazzical, a distinctive sonic blend of gospel, jazz, and classical music. Hes shared stages with the likes of Patti LaBelle, Najee, Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin, and VaShawn Mitchell, and was also invited to perform at Stevie Wonders annual House of Toys benefit concert in Los Angeles.
McGee will moderate a panel on hip-hops origins at the Guild of Music Supervisors State of Music in Media conference on August 19 at the Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood. The panel-which includes Cheryl Salt James of Salt-N-Pepa, producer Amani Burt Blackarach Smith, professor and composer Jae Deal, and rapper King Tee-will explore how jazz and R&B shaped hip-hops electric sound in the '70s. While not a hip-hop history expert, McGee sees connections between Afro-centric music like gospel and R&B and the community strength in hip-hop. His distinct perspective will explore these intersections in early hip-hop, adding an intriguing layer to the genres 50th-anniversary celebration. In the following interview, edited for clarity and length, we talk to McGee about his role in the panel.
The upcoming panel will explore the origins of hip hop and its connection to other forms of music like jazz and R&B. How do you think hip-hop relates to those other genres and how does it fit into the larger story of music history and Afro-centric culture? Unlike other forms of Afro-centric music, hip-hop is one of the only forms of Black music that was not birthed out of a religious tradition. But that said, hip-hop does not stand on its own from all the other forms of Black music that exist. Hip-hop, by and large, was birthed as a social consciousness music, an art form that would address societal ills, particularly in the African American community. At its core, hip-hop is really about communicating the heart, the condition, the nature of times-and that's not really new. When you look at the negro spirituals for example, they were coded texts . . . messages hidden within songs used to communicate ideas about freedom and the soul and the brutal reality of slavery. There was a time when R&B music addressed the conditions of the time as well. Marvin Gaye's What's Going On? comes to mind-he was asking, Why are we killing each other? Why are so many people dying?
I see hip-hop in a very similar way in terms of speaking to the current context and a vision of the future. In fact, when we look at some of the more popular early hip-hop artists, such as Salt from Salt-N-Pepa and MC Hammer, they have a very deep religious undergirding. You have people who come from the church and came to this social consciousness music. This is part of the reason I'm advocating for people to see the innate sacred spirituality of hip-hop as an ancestral retention that connects those who engage with it to uniquely African modes of communication and expression.
How did you get involved with the Guild of Music Supervisors conference? I have a song called Manifest that I wrote with another international gospel artist Jonathan Nelson about 20 years ago. It's essentially an affirmation of purpose and destiny, with a message of God made you exactly as you were meant to be. This song has had such a tremendous shelf life. Several people have recorded it through the years. Jonathan Nelson called me a few months ago and said I'd be contacted by music supervisor Dr. LaMarcus Miller because the song had been licensed for an upcoming Disney series called Choir. Dr. Miller and I became friends, and eventually he asked me if I would like to participate in this panel on the origins of hip-hop. He was very interested in my perspective as an active performer and a scholar of various forms of Black music and what I could bring to the discussion. I would have never imagined in three million years that I'd be on a panel with King Tee and Salt from Salt-N-Pepa and in the presence of all these hip-hop icons, but I'm excited to be able to guide the conversation!
As someone that doesn't have an extensive background in hip-hop, what is your approach to moderating a discussion with big names on a public stage? One of my goals is to direct the conversation into an understanding of the sacred and spiritual nature of hip-hop, even though it was not born out of the church, and how that relates to the spiritual elements of jazz, R&B, and other Afro-centric forms of music. I want to help bridge gaps, strengthen communities and connections within these Black contexts, and to lift up the spiritual nature and musical connections of hip-hop to other Black art forms so that it is not necessarily seen as something that is an outlier.
In doing research for the event, what has stood out to you as you review five decades of hip-hop music? I'm drinking from the fire hose right now! I'm listening [to everyone] from Grandmaster Flash to Salt-N-Pepa to Heavy D to Biggie to Tupac to Jay-Z and Kanye to Nas to Queen Latifah to Lil' Kim to Cardi B. . . . I'm listening to some of everybody, and I'm also listening to some of the gospel artists that have been influenced by hip-hop, like Kirk Franklin and others. Because it's 50 years of material,
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Clear-Com will showcase new communications solutions and major platform updates at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7005), June 17-19, in the North and Central Halls of t...
15/05/2026
Following an outstanding inaugural year in 2025, Rise AV is proud to announce the return of its flagship leadership initiative, Elevate. The programme continues...
15/05/2026
Berklee Announces Lineup for Inaugural AI Music Summit The three-day event puts musicians at the center of the future of music creation, ethics, and the indus...
15/05/2026
Lightware returns to InfoComm 2026 with a focused showcase of scalable USB-C connectivity, next-generation AV-over-IP solutions, and technologies that help over...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Delivering a live, arena-scale production of a massively popular band is no small feat. Between expansive in-arena LED walls and a global live stream fed to onl...
15/05/2026
Connection is the heartbeat of any strong community, and with live streaming becoming more accessible in the modern era, it's much easier for faith-based or...
15/05/2026
Powered by GX 3 media servers, optimised IP-VFC workflows and on-site engineering expertise, the production delivers high-performance visuals for one of the wor...
15/05/2026
Against that backdrop, IAB UK has added retail media to its Gold Standard. Jan Pitt, Commercial Director at ABC, spoke with Liv McCullagh, Retail Media Lead at ...
15/05/2026
Further to RT 's statement released yesterday and in the interest of full transparency, with the full permission of Derek Mooney, we are now publishing the ...
14/05/2026
Sweetwater and Airstream have announced a custom-built Dolby Atmos mobile recording studio inside an Airstream trailer, set to tour music festivals, schools, tr...
14/05/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has announced a new par...
14/05/2026
ESPN has announced plans to transform Santa Monica Beach into a broadcast hub du...
14/05/2026
Amagi has announced a significant update to Amagi CLOUDPORT, its cloud-based broadcast playout platform. The update includes 250-plus features shipped in FY25-2...
14/05/2026
Clear-Com will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7005, June 17-19, Las Vegas Convention Center), introducing a new product that builds on Arcadia Central Station...
14/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at BroadcastAsia 2026 (Stand 5D3-1, Singapore Expo, May 20-22), introducing two new viewfinders alongside its existing camera, control, and...
14/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside ...
14/05/2026
NAGRAVISION, a Kudelski Group company, has announced a partnership with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) to launch Play Snooker,...
14/05/2026
Belden Inc. has announced a definitive agreement to acquire RUCKUS Networks from Vistance Networks for approximately $1.85 billion. The transaction has been app...
14/05/2026
NVIDIA has released the Content Localization Blueprint, a modular reference arch...
14/05/2026
Disney has announced that Disney will be the exclusive U.S. streaming home of the Banana Bowl, the Banana Ball league season championship, streaming live this ...
14/05/2026
Arkona technologies and technology partner manifold will demonstrate their production solutions on the Magna Systems and Engineering stand (Booth 5D1-1) at Broa...
14/05/2026
Haivision will host a webinar on Thursday, May 21 at 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET cov...
14/05/2026
The CW Network and ESPN have announced a sublicense broadcast agreement for The CW to televise ACC football and men's and women's college basketball gam...
14/05/2026
The agreement marks Scripps Sports' first NBA local rights deal...
14/05/2026
A new report from education-technology company Wiingy testing post-ChatGPT predictions against three years of real-world data has identified broadcasting as one...
14/05/2026
Global Citizen and FIFA have announced that Madonna, Shakira, and BTS will headl...
14/05/2026
LOS ANGELES, CA, May 14, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the cohort selected for the 2026 Episodic Lab program, taking place at Dunaway ...
14/05/2026
At Spotify, we're focused on making every listening experience feel intentio...
14/05/2026
Spotify recently welcomed songwriters, artists, executives, and music students t...
14/05/2026
New articulations, ostinatos, Motion Scoring Articulation Sets & more
Sonuscore's flagship cinematic string library has just been treated to a significa...
14/05/2026
World-class studio opens on T rkiye's Aegean coast
P r Recording & Residence have announced their official opening, introducing a new world-class reside...
14/05/2026
Now supports channel layouts up to 9.1.6
Nugen Audio have just released an update for their AI-powered dialogue intelligibility and compliance tool. Set to ...
14/05/2026
New recordings & one-key chord tool
UVI have just announced the release of Orchestral Suite 2, a ground-up redesign of their all-in-one symphonic orchestra ...
14/05/2026
Two new arrivals & expanded factory content
Rob Papen's all-encompassing plug-in and virtual instrument collection has just been treated to another upda...
14/05/2026
Embed QR codes into DAW sessions
FSK Audio's latest plug-in doesn't process audio, but serves as an organisational tool that allows QR codes to be e...
14/05/2026
SBS Board appoints Jane Palfreyman Managing Director
13 May, 2026
Media releases
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Board of Directors is pleased to an...
14/05/2026
Transforming bold ideas into market-ready productions: Digital Originals returns
14 May, 2026
Media releases
SBS, NITV and Screen Australia have announced ...
14/05/2026
Australia Uncovered Returns to SBS with Bold New Season Featuring John Safran on...
14/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz transforms spectrum complexity into situational awareness and ef...
14/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Quantum Systems join forces to redefine EW and C-UAS-enabled...