Artist

Us3

London, United Kingdom • Formed 1991

Us3 is a music group from London, United Kingdom, active since 1991. Their discography on Gatefold includes 11 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

1991

Since

Biography

Us3 is a jazz-rap group founded in London in 1991. They use samples of classic songs released by Blue Note Records. Among them is "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)", sampling Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" on their first album Hand on the Torch. The song received much attention, approaching platinum status in the United States and being adopted as the theme music to the WBUR public radio program The Connection.

The Arc of Us3

The pivots — what forced Us3 to reinvent.

The Blue Note Hall Pass
After the 'Hand on the Torch' deal was inked, the studio became a playground where 1960s hard-bop masters were treated like raw drum breaks. Wilkinson and Simpson sat in London's Flame Studios with rappers Kobie Powell and Rahsaan, layering fresh verses over the ghost of Herbie Hancock's 'Cantaloupe Island.' The record worked because it wasn't a parody; it had the authentic grit of the original analog tapes meeting the punch of an Akai sampler. It turned Blue Note from a museum into a living, breathing chart-topper for exactly one summer.
The Major Label Chill
By the time 'Broadway & 52nd' dropped in '97, the industry had moved on to Trip-hop and the shine was off the jazz-rap crossover. The group swapped out their vocalists, bringing in KCB and Shabaam Sahdeeq, which shifted the vibe toward a more traditional East Coast hip-hop sound that felt disconnected from the sampled source material. Blue Note’s parent company, EMI, didn't know how to market a project that wasn't a fluke hit anymore, leading to a messy split. You can hear the tension on the record—the production is slicker, but the danger of those first illicit samples is completely gone.
The Independent Grind
Wilkinson eventually took the name to smaller labels like Universal and his own Us3.com imprint, turning the project into a revolving door for soul singers and underground emcees. Records like 'An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place' leaned harder into neo-soul and world music, ditching the strict Blue Note blueprint for live instrumentation and singers like Michelob and Alison Crockett. It was a more honest representation of Wilkinson’s taste, but without the massive marketing muscle of a major, the albums mostly circulated among the acid jazz diehards. The sound became more polished and less frantic, landing in a middle ground that felt more like a professional lounge gig than a basement revolution.

Influences

Herbie Hancock — The entire career of Us3 exists because of 'Cantaloupe Island.' The piano hook from Hancock's 1964 session is the literal skeleton of 'Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia),' providing the rhythmic backbone that turned a jazz sample into a global pop hit.
Horace Silver — Silver’s 'Song for My Father' and 'The Ghetto' were the templates for Wilkinson’s first experiments in sample-based production. You hear Silver’s hard-bop timing in the way Wilkinson chops his breaks, favoring that specific Blue Note groove over the smoother West Coast jazz sounds.
Art Blakey — Wilkinson has repeatedly cited Blakey's Jazz Messengers as the gold standard for his 'band' philosophy. The drum heavy style of Blakey permeates the project, especially in how the live percussion on 'Hand on the Torch' attempts to match the swing of the original 1950s recordings.
Grant Green — The guitar lick on 'Sookie Sookie' was sampled for the track of the same name, proving Green’s soul-jazz era was a primary source of Us3's funkier edge. It’s that lean, bluesy phrasing that kept the group's debut from sounding like a soft-jazz elevator soundtrack.
The Last Poets — The spoken-word delivery and street-conscious lyricism of early Us3 tracks owe a direct debt to the Poets' proto-rap style. You hear that raw, rhythmic recitation in the way Kobie Powell and Tukka Yoot approached their verses, leaning into the cadence of jazz rather than the aggression of 90s gangsta rap.