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Cymande Helped Pave the Way for Hip-Hop, Disco and House in the ’70s – And Is Now Enjoying a Resurgence

The British band Cymande's influence on hip-hop, house disco is documented in the new 'Getting It Back' film about the group.

The band drew on its varied influences – not just the sounds of their Caribbean countries of origin, but the contemporary R&B of Otis Redding and Solomon Burke and the forward-thinking jazz of Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck – to create music that, while inviting, defied easy categorization. As Getting It Back recounts, when DJ Jazzy Jay and other early hip-hop artists in The Bronx began experimenting with using double turntable setups and duplicate copies of records to mix and extend tracks, “Bra,” a standout from Cymande’s self-titled debut, was one of the most common songs they threw on the decks. But after De La Soul released its seminal 1989 album 3 Feet High and Rising, which includes the “Bra”-sampling “Change In Speak,” Scipio’s kids turned him onto it – and by extension, the fact that Cymande’s music had become a touchstone for the artists who followed them.

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