Broadway & 52nd

Broadway & 52nd

Broadway & 52nd was the second album by jazz-rap group Us3. They continued mixing live musicians with samples and hip hop lyrics. While not as well-accepted as their debut album Hand on the Torch, it was a more mature approach to jazz-rap, up to par with Guru's Jazzmatazz. After the huge success of their first album, the president of Blue Note records allowed the trio to dig deep into Blue Note's vault and do whatever they wanted to do with Blue Note's material.

Broadway & 52nd has a more dark, conscious mood to it. Track 9, "Sheep" is an example of this: It talks about a young man who is not interested in being down with the herd.

The album title comes from the street in the middle of the theater district in New York City. It also used to be the center of bebop in New York City, with infamous night clubs, when bebop was in its heyday.