Rakim has announced that he will be performing at this year's Blue Note Jazz Festival with special guest Ravi Coltrane. Other artists who will be joining him on the lineup include Robert Glasper, Bilal, Herbie Hancock, and George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic.
“This year’s Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York presents an exceptional range and depth of artistry,” Alex Kurland, Director of Programming, said in a statement. “We’re excited and proud to present a diverse lineup within different settings and at venues featuring the most established, iconic and influential artists as well as the next generation of cutting edge progressive artists at venues ranging from Washington Square Park, Central Park to the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village and more. We are grateful again to bring a tasteful city-wide music festival to the culture of New York City.”
Rakim is one of the most storied rappers in hip-hop history. His career took off in the 1980s when he partnered with Eric B. to form Eric B. & Rakim. He's also released three solo albums in The 18th Letter (1997), The Master (1999), and The Seventh Seal (2009).
Ja Rule recently remarked on The Breakfast Club that he would consider putting Rakim on his Mt. Rushmore of greatest rappers.
"Either Big Daddy Kane, or Rakim, or [KRS One] because of what they did for the culture and what they meant to the culture," he said on the program, last week. "And what Rakim was to a Nas, you know what I’m saying? What KRS was to a whole generation of rappers... We never put the ladies in there... MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa."
The Blue Note Jazz Festival is being held on June 8 at Sony Music Hall.
Check out Rakim's announcement below.
[Via]