The Career-Defining Interview (Black Radio, J Dilla, Kendrick, Miles, Chappelle)
Robert Glasper is one of the most important musicians of the last twenty years. The multiple Grammy-winning pianist, producer, and bandleader from Houston, Texas has spent his career doing something that seemed impossible: making jazz and hip-hop not just coexist, but genuinely merge into something new. His landmark album Black Radio changed the conversation about what jazz could be, and his influence on the artists who came after — from Kendrick Lamar to Chance the Rapper — is immeasurable.
In this career-defining conversation with Elmo, Glasper opens up about his formative years studying at The New School, his deep friendship and musical bond with J Dilla, and how working with Miles Davis's final collaborators shaped his approach to rhythm and harmony. He talks about the making of Black Radio, the creative risks it required, and how his collaborations with Kendrick Lamar — including the To Pimp a Butterfly sessions — came together.
This is the kind of interview you listen to twice. Glasper is candid, philosophical, and deeply thoughtful about what music means in the culture — and what it means to build a career on your own terms. His friendship with Dave Chappelle, his views on authenticity in Black music, and his ongoing commitment to mentoring the next generation all come up in an unfiltered, essential conversation.
"The most honest and wide-ranging conversation Robert Glasper has given — covering everything from J Dilla to Kendrick to what jazz actually owes hip-hop."
The creation of the album that changed the conversation about modern jazz, the creative risk of blending acoustic piano with neo-soul and hip-hop vocals, and what the Grammy win meant for the genre.
Glasper's deep personal and musical bond with J Dilla, how Dilla's sense of swing and feel permanently changed the way Glasper approached the piano, and what carrying that legacy forward means.
How Glasper's band became the core of one of rap's greatest albums, what those sessions were like, and the relationship between jazz improvisation and Kendrick's lyrical approach.
Working with the musicians in Miles's orbit, the lessons Glasper absorbed about fearlessness and reinvention, and how Miles's philosophy of never looking back shaped his own creative decisions.
His longtime friendship with Chappelle, the role of comedy and honesty in Black culture, and how Glasper thinks about the intersection of art, truth, and entertainment at the highest level.
Where Glasper sees jazz heading, his approach to producing and mentoring younger artists, and his belief that the most important music still hasn't been made yet.
Glasper breaks down exactly how J Dilla's unconventional drumming permanently changed his own sense of rhythm and timing at the piano.
The untold story of how Black Radio almost didn't happen — and the leap of faith it took to pitch a jazz-hip-hop fusion record to Blue Note.
Behind the scenes of the To Pimp a Butterfly sessions — what Kendrick was like in the studio and how the album's jazz foundation came together organically.
Glasper's candid take on the jazz world's complicated relationship with hip-hop, and why he thinks gatekeeping has held the genre back for decades.
His personal memories of Miles Davis's collaborators and what specific lessons he absorbed about artistic courage and the willingness to polarize your audience.
A raw, honest conversation about his friendship with Dave Chappelle and what having that kind of intellectual peer relationship means for his creative life.
Available on all major platforms.