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"NateKid skips across genres and decades as breezily as the rest of us cross the street. He's a jaywalker of musical worlds, his jaunts weaving unique and creative blends of sound -- one song alone finds Natekid rapping and scatting through an intersection bustling with backbeats, the strains of "Rhapsody in Blue," the call-and-response of "Minnie the Moocher" and the pop-and-hiss of beatboxing. In another, his lyrics put other rappers on notice: "Music's coming back, it takes talent you don't have, see?" Now whether other rappers will fall in his wake, who knows? But Natekid has got talent." |
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What a kick surprise to hear you flowing over the great American songbook. It's terrific and nobody but nobody that I've heard has rolled Jazz, real melody, great songs and a message from the center of your chest laying on top. It's unique and really enjoyable. It's headed for the player in my car. |
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NATEKid is one of those artists that’s here to change the face of music. Lately we've had Amy Winehouse & John Legend who, through brilliant musicianship, reintroduce classic sounds in a completely accessible way. These artists make music for our youthful MTV generation, but with the ingenuity that real musicians and music champions can get excited about. He has an incredible range of talent, I’ m looking forward to directing him in an MTV video and seeing him as an actor in the upcoming movie roles he's slated for." |
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(to listeners) Isn’t that sensational?? (to Nate) You’re Great…Highly original, a really talented guy. |
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I love it. I’ll tell you the truth, and I hate rap…it isn’t rap, it’s jaFunK. |
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“NATEKid’s unique vision introduces the young and exciting fans of hip-hop to the traditional standards of the jazz world. With his versatile arrangements, witty lyrics and rich tone, he has found a way to fuse the two worlds seamlessly and has created a fresh, new sound that makes you think that these two styles of music are long, lost soul mates.” |
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“NateKid's 2.0 CD is more than just a mix of hip hop, j azz, and funk. It's takes something more to blend these elements together and achieve a style that is greater than the sum of its parts. NateKid's playing a game of hit and run, allowing his personality to shine thru each song and having fun with what he's doing. Using his love for ballads and the old musicals, as well as the roots of hip hop, NateKid pays respect to the crooners and rappers of old, while at the same time, adding a fresh vibe that takes each style to a new level. Vocally, NateKid is smooth and vibrant; you feel him come right 'atcha and you can't help but smile and feel every word right along with him.” |
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Nate Lombardi proved that it's possible to mix jazz, pop and hip-hop, with a lit tle beat-box thrown in for good measure! Where DO they come from?! |
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Nate is a talented music mogul who is inspired by the old and the new. He is among the cutting edge of a major new direction in the evolution of hip hop and it's connection to jazz and music of the past. Jazz has been termed as America's form of original music. Today's genres of music have their birth place there. Follow the evolution from Plantation call and response, gospel, blues, blue grass, country & western, ragtime, swing, bebop, rhythm & blues, off shots of the aforementioned, including hip hop and you will see the development of music based on the lives and experiences of the people that lived it .Where we have fallen short is connecting the dots with our music from one generation to the next. Nate is a connector. The thrust of his music facilitates an appreciation of music by all generations. People no longer have to segment themselves from the music of the young or music of the old. Facilitators, like Nate close the generation gap and open the music to us all. Eric Frazier- Jazz Journalist, (Jazz Improv) Author |
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“WHO is this new kid on the block?” I asked myself when I first listened to NATEKid. My immediate impression,” Very cute, got the goods for modeling, let's hear the musical ideas”. Then I listened, and I listened again. The ideas kept coming, there was more going on than just a mix of hip hop, jazz, and funk. I played selected tracks to friends. They loved the jazz standards being modernized, their 30+ year old party generation kids loved it, even the 12 month old granddaughter grooved the booty. It was refreshing to hear the minimal use of the beat-box and Pro- tools without all the dominant electronics & hip hop anger that gets verbalized in their lyrics. Those of us who have spent years in urban education teaching & training see this as a positive creative outlet as an antidote to racial discrimination, for the Afro-American and Aboriginal adolescent facing a life of poverty, drug use, incarceration and early deaths in custody. The arrival of Eminem and now NATEKid who lives in Harlem, New York, is no accident. It’s the direct evolution of black & white kids sharing a common urban cultural art form and then making it their own by sharing their influences in different ways. NATEKid's version of The Pink Panther, Let Yourself Go, Too Darn Hot, I'm Yours, Blue Skies, Slap That Bass, & Call Me Irresponsible (one of my fav's with a sexy R&B style),and the Piazolla Tango style of Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out of You", would have had the old boy chasing Nate around the block!! This is pure musical innovation and would have had the original composers NOT turning in their graves BUT sitting up and jumping for joy that their music has contemporary relevance and is living on, in the music of genuine young innovators. NATEKid is keeping up a musical tradition, and connecting the dots by making the music meaningful to his generation. NATEKid has broken through, he's definitely here to make his mark!! Helen Simon,s Dip.Advanced Studies in Education (University of Keele, UK) University of Sydney Jazz Announcer/Producer/Reviewer Community Station Broadcaster |
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Since successful Caucasian hip-hop artists are as much an anomaly as white
chocolate, comparisons between jaFunk front man NateKid and Eminem are
inevitable. But, the color of their skin not withstanding, the rappers
are as different as night and day. On his stellar debut, "jaFunk,"
NateKid accentuates the positive, eschewing hate rhetoric in favor of
feel-good rhymes that,despite their sensitivity and insight, do nothing
to handicap the future pin-up's macho swagger. What's more, the up-and-comer
is not content to be merely ghetto fabulous: He's a bona fide music lover
- an aficionado of classic jazz, no less and wears his heart on his disc
as well as his sleeve ". " Eight of the album's tracks combine NateKid's original wordplay with alternately reverent and inventive renderings of retro songs by the likes of Irving Berlin and Louis Prima. The result? Fabulous, period. On paper, it reads like an accident waiting to happen. Yet in your Walkman, it's a miraculous marriage of the urban and the urbane, an ultramodern, and refreshingly respectful, rejiggering of tunes that have bypassed whole generations. Sure, teenagers won't know the numbers on which NateKid and Co. are riffing. However, after hearing "Harness Melodies," their slammin' revamp of "I Got Rhythm," or the aural strutting of "My Baby," their hep overhaul of "Steppin' Out," no one, regardless of their age, is going to forget them. True, this ain't your grandma's Gershwin. Yet she'll tap her toe to it all the same. How could she resist? How could anybody? " - Charlie Mason - Contributing editor at Time Out New York, TV Guide, Platinum and Album Network |
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"...Hip Hop...jazz...pop...it's really what Duke Ellington meant when he said 'something's are beyond category!'..." - Dick Golden- XM Satellite Radio, Program Director Ocean 104 FM |
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"The Harlem Renaissance forges a seductive partnership with Hip Hop on jaFunK's debut album. Lead vocalist NateKid, a musician based in Harlem, mixes lyrics about his life and passions with classic jazz melodies. The messages and taunt musical arrangements are uplifting. The band is surprisingly successful at blending two seemingly different worlds. NateKid captures the diverse spirit of modern urban life. At the same time the band is able to pump new energy into the horn sounds of New York city during the hey day of the Cotton Club. jaFunK's first effort is and adventurous hybrid where the influences of musical pioneers from John Coltrane to KRS-ONE find common ground. It's definitely worth a listen." - Dan Russo- WMUH, Allentown |
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You exude something so powerfully yesterday and God sang a little bit louder the day you were born...we need you. Dear whomever is handling Natekid, HI NATEkid!!! I am glad you have brought a different sound for me to listen to, i say myself ,because I cannot speak for others. I am always looking for the kind of music that will get me up and dancing, and bobbin my head in my car, and you are bringing that to me. I think it is brilliant., I thank you...watching you is brill too.... strnagers in the night is bloody brilliant ..... I luv it, and had me on my feet.... just love your voice..... definetly a cd i have to buy, and just play, play play, all day.... oh do u hear what i say.... i am so glad that your song came my way..... It's a rare thing, but as soon as I heard 30 seconds of So In Love, I opened the stand alone player to listen to it all whilst I worked. This music is really something worth talking about! INFUCKINCREDIBLE BRO...I'M SO FILLED WITH CHILLS RIGHT Hi Nate!! Had to tell ya....Your songs were stuck in my head all yesterday... Even woke up sing your song.... |
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