Reggae duo Nappy Riddem recently released their first album, full of worldly sounds guaranteed to rock a party. They’re currently on tour supporting the project and stop in SF on November 17th to boogie down with Afrolicious.
Photo courtesy of Jesse Justice
We caught up with Rex and Mustafa of Nappy Riddem while they were chillin backstage at Washington, DC’s 9:30 Club for the Fort Knox Five and Trombone Shorty show to chat a bit about their album, the meaning behind their music, what they love about SF and more.
So you just released your first full length album titled One World Sovereignty at the beginning of October. How long was that in the works?
Mustafa: Probably 2 or 3 years.
Rex: Yeah, we’ve had a couple singles released before this that are on the album but we’re just really proud of it, it’s the first thing we’ve done of this magnitude.
When we first started doing stuff with Thunderball in early 2000, that’s when we first started brainstorming. It was about 3 years ago though when we stared really looking at it as album production as opposed to just songwriting.
Other artists played various instruments throughout the album, how does your live show work without a full band?
Rex: In the live show, we bring in a drummer and bass, we both do percussion and sing, and also use a DJ setup to run backing tracks so we can emulate the full sound of the album without having to have all those components.
We use technology to meld the DJ and club aspect of things along with the electronic aspect and live showmanship and performance.
You make mixtapes all the time, do you both work on them? How do they fit into Nappy Riddem?
Rex: The mixtapes are mostly coming from the DJ side of things. I’ll usually do the programming and if we do voiceovers we’ll usually get together, but the main thing that adds the Nappy Riddem component is the remixes we make that are on the mixtapes.
Mustafa: Also the influences.
Rex: Yeah, it’s a nice component to show people what our influences are and where we’re coming from. It’s also a nice to bridge the gap between the DJ community, the live community, and the production community.
On the album there’s plenty of party jams but definitely some downtempo songs. How does that speed and vibe go over during the live show?
Mustafa: You mean songs like “Suspicious Love.” In the live show we do it more of a reggae flavor and it blends in. It gives everyone a break from the dancing, gives everyone an opportunity to catch their breath before we make it Nappy again and wile out and hype up the party.
Rex: It’s kind of seen as a soul or r&b song but when we play it live it comes off with a reggae and dub element. In the live show when you have the live bass and percussion, that adds to the energy and dynamics of the song.
Mustafa: It feels completely different live than it does if you’re at home listening to the album and we do play every song that’s on the album live.
[audio:/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/rastar.mp3]Nappy Riddem “Rastar”
Your album is described as “liberation music.” What does that mean to you?
Mustafa: You have to free your mind, that’s the whole Nappy movement, being free to be who you are.
Rex: Liberation in all aspects of life – how you view yourself, your personal mentality, the politics you live by, the society you live within. Life’s a struggle and we’re all struggling to be free here within these components.
Mustafa: All day, every day, liberation songs.
What are your favorite things about coming to San Francisco?
Rex: Man, well one is definitely the ganja. Oh, I’m sorry – medicine (laughs).
Mustafa: The whole SF vibe, we love it there. We’re drawn there. It’s definitely a treat for us to come out and would be great to visit more often.
Rex: On the whole liberation thing, SF has always been at the forefront of pushing social culture to the rest of the nation as well as having a melting pot musically, artistically and creatively. It’s a great place to go to feel all that energy that’s making the city what it is and what it always has been.
Thanks guys, great chatting, looking forward to seeing you next week!
Mustafa: Wait, I got one question for you – how Nappy is your Riddem?
(laughs) My Riddem is mad Nappy.
Nappy Riddem performs November 17 at Elbo Room. More info.
Ellen Lovelidge is a writer and DJ, for more on her check out djlilelle.com or follow on Twitter at @djlilelle.