What does classical music and hip-hop have in common? Hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari. Having spread her own unique sound on tracks for such artists as Jay-Z, Kanye West and Wyclef Jean for the last few years, it would seem as if the marriage between hip-hop and her violin has created more open minds than first expected. Now in the final stages of her own solo project Miri is more than happy to call some of her friends in hip-hop to assist her in music history.
“It’s one-of-a-kind. There’s nothing like it,” she told MTV. “The only thing I could compare it to would be Carlos Santana’s projects, because he’s an instrumentalist who mixes different elements like pop, rock and Latin music. And I’m doing the same with classical and hip-hop.”
Having played her violin on 90 percent of Kanye West’s debut album “The College Dropout”, Miri has developed a strong music relationship with the rapper/producer.” We started trusting each other after spending so much time in a studio together. He doesn’t need to talk to me anymore when he gives me tracks. He knows what I do and trusts me. When I do my thing, I always know what to do. I never need to think about anything, I just do me. I don’t process any thoughts when I play music”.
With guest appearances of her own (Mya, Scarface, Lil Mo and Kanye West Ben-Ari is certain to take hip-hop to the next level.
