SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
SPRING, 2021
VOLUME TEN NUMBER ONE
JEREMY PELT
(April 17-23)
WILLIAM GRANT STILL
(April 24-30)
AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS
(May 1-7)
KARRIEM RIGGINS
(May 8-14)
ETTA JONES
(May 15-21)
YUSEF LATEEF
(May 22-28)
CHRISTIAN SANDS
(May 29—June 4)
E. J. STRICKLAND
(June 5-11)
TAJ MAHAL
(June 12-18)
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR PERKINSON
(June 12-18)
DOM FLEMONS
(June 19-25)
HEROES ARE GANG LEADERS
(June 26-July 2)
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/karriem-riggins-mn0000176820/biography
Karriem Riggins
(b. August 25, 1975)
Artist Biography by Andy Kellman
Karriem Riggins has often shifted between the jazz and hip-hop scenes, but the two genres are so inextricably linked that it would be better to call him a flexible multi-instrumentalist and producer. Primarily a drummer -- he plays several other instruments and raps as well -- Riggins grew up in Detroit, took up music at an early age and, at the age of 17, was playing drums for Betty Carter. Before he turned 20, he temporarily relocated to New York and gained steady work with gigs, session dates, and production work. During the latter half of the '90s, he recorded with the likes of Mulgrew Miller, Rodney Whitaker, Ray Brown, and Roy Hargrove. He also established a lasting creative relationship with rapper Common, beginning with 1997's One Day It'll All Make Sense. Throughout the 2000s, he continued to work with jazz musicians while collaborating with fellow Detroiters Slum Village and J Dilla, in addition to the Roots, Consequence, and Erykah Badu. Some of his most significant work came with the completion of the posthumous Dilla album The Shining.
In 2012, after drumming on Paul McCartney's Kisses on the Bottom, he finally released recordings of his own. The sibling releases Alone and Together -- abstract, sample-heavy beat collages, close in spirit to Dilla's Donuts -- were released on vinyl and as digital downloads, and they were combined as Alone Together for the CD format. During the few years, he was credited on a wide variety of recordings by Theo Croker, Diana Krall, Kanye West, Esperanza Spalding, and Norah Jones, among others. He also continued to work closely with Common and produced the entirety of the rapper's Black America Again. Still affiliated with Stones Throw, Riggins delivered Headnod Suite in 2017.
Karriem Riggins
If jazz and hip-hop passionately and cleverly intertwined with one another, the hybrid result would be a musically gifted lovechild. Or, perhaps, if ones bloodline is to blame father, Emmanuel Riggins is a musician and used to perform with guitarist Grant Green a musical rarity is nonetheless the result. Whatever the reason, whatever the description, a musical talent by any other name is still well a musical talent. And such a musical talent has manifested itself into musician, producer Karriem Riggins.
Born August 25, 1975 in Detroit, MI, Riggins parents realized their son was gifted at an early age: not only would Riggins dig through his parents record collection as a young child but he would also accompany his father to the studio and play with instruments in the likeness of a musical great. Riggins continued his ongoing affair with music by studying it in school and making hip-hop music during his middle and high school days. Riggins turned his love into a profession, moving to New York City in 1994 at the age of 19. He joined Jazz Ahead, the band of renowned jazz singer Betty Carter, as a drummer.
While Riggins strengthened and developed his forte, the jazz world became enraptured with such an exceptional performer. After working with Betty Carter and Jazz Ahead, Riggins went on to perform with and appear on recordings with various jazz greats such as Hank Jones, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson, Donald Byrd, Cedar Walton, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller, Ron Carter, Gary Bartz and Diana Krall . Karriem has made major accomplishments within the hip-hop world as a musician and producer. Riggins produced tracks on some of Commons albums such as 1997s One Day Itll All Make Sense, 2000s Like Water for Chocolate, and 2005s Be.
Riggins has also done production work for artists such as Slum Village, producing tracks on albums such as 2001s Trinity and 2002s Dirty District and for The Roots, producing “Quills” on 2002s Phrenology. Riggins has produced and collaborated on tracks with Jay Dee aka J Dilla, and worked with Dwele on Truth/Subject, many of Commons albums as well as touring with Common for Electric Circus and BE. Additionally, he has worked with Talib Kweli, The Detroit Experiment, and songtress, Erykah Badu.
Currently, Riggins is in the process of developing his first self-titled album, showcasing his unique range as a producer, drummer, and MC. With this album Riggins will continue to embark on a musical voyage, developing and creating music that will captivate audiences and entice the musical senses.
Karriem Riggins Looks To Keep Creating, Taking Musical Medicine
For sought after Los Angeles producer, Karriem Riggins, it all began with the drums. Riggins’ father, a skilled keys player, performed with, among others, the great jazz guitarist, Grant Green, and Riggins would watch intently, starting at three-years-old. Tagging along to shows inspired the aspiring young musician and when he began to understand and follow along with the drums, Riggins fell head over heals for them. The instrument’s ability to change the mood and tone in a room just by altering the rhythm or feel wowed him. Later, after he got his first drum set, Riggins began to take music seriously. He also played trumpet and he got some rudimentary recording equipment. By 1994, Riggins moved from his hometown of Detroit to New York City, where he began to flourish. This year, Riggins released unique projects with the famed rappers, Common and Madlib, and he is poised to unveil even more new work in 2021.
“It’s been an ongoing thing for me,” Riggins says. “I always pursued jazz and hip-hop. It’s just something that was in me from the beginning. I’ve been playing professionally since high school. It wasn’t exactly a new discovery for me. By the time I made it to New York, it was going on.”
Though music had been in his life from the get-go, something crystalized in the Big Apple. When it came to music – and especially hip-hop music, Riggins says – the art form provided a way to speak to the city, if one did it accurately and artfully. It was a way to communicate to the populous.
“That was the language of the people speaking out,” Riggins says. “Or just telling stories about what’s going on. That’s what I wanted to have a voice in, to add onto that art form.”
Over the course of his career, Riggins has worked with standout names like Paul McCartney and Norah Jones. And recently, he’s put eclectic out projects with Common and Madlib. For Common, Riggins has produced many records over the years, including his most recent, 2020’s A Beautiful Revolution (Pt. 1). The album incorporates the rapper’s signature poetics and words of wisdom laid of Riggins’ signature smoothed bop sounds. His beds of music are like calmly spoken phrases interspersed with the occasional exclamation point.
“To tell you the truth,” Riggins says, “I don’t even think of the sounds. I just create. I think I’m just a reflection of what I listen to and what inspires me. All of the records I grew up listening to for inspiration come out when I’m creating. It’s about finding my own voice. What you’re hearing is me on my quest for that voice and trying to evolve to create something new and fresh.”
With Madlib, the two musicians have created their own umbrella moniker, the Jahari Massamba Unit, and this year the duo released its latest conceptual LP, Pardon My French. The two met in 2004 through famed beat-maker and producer, J Dilla. The way Riggins and Madlib work is almost always remotely. Riggins will send his producer counterpart, say, thirteen-to-fourteen drum options and Madlib will send back files with instrumentation, melodies and other sonic goodies. The beauty is in the surprise, in venturing to and through the unknown with another creative soul to find out only what you two together will.
“We don’t even talk about what we create,” Riggins says. “It’s like there are no rules. It’s just free and I think that inspires me and I think it’s the way music should be created.”
That such a fruitful partnership was born out of an introduction from J Dilla will come as no surprise to fans of the legendary producer, known for his work with groups like A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde and De La Soul, among many others. Riggins and Dilla were friends for years before Dilla passed away suddenly in 2006. Dilla was a mentor, someone who pushed Riggins to always be better, often by dropping crates of records off at his house to sort through and sample.
“Generosity goes a long way,” Riggins says. “Also he just set the bar so high. That is a blessing. We know how hard we need to work to get even a fraction close to that.”
Today, as Riggins continues to work, he says he takes things day-by-day. With 2020 coming to a close, 2021 will offer new opportunities but they will likely be borne from perspiration as much as anything else. Riggins says he will have a new project to announce soon full of big-name features but, until then, he will continue to plug away the way he’s done for decades ever since he first laid eyes on a drum kit, listening to his heart and following his instincts.
“I love that there’s a freedom in music that I don’t feel anywhere else,” Riggins says. “Music is an outlet for me, therapy. It’s medicinal. For a lot of people who listen to music we make, it’s healing. So many beautiful things come from melody and harmony and rhythm.”
https://thequietus.com/articles/10420-karriem-riggins-alone-together-review
Karriem Riggins
Alone Together Ed Owen
October 19th, 2012
Los Angeles-based Stones Throw didn't invent the breaks record, but the label has taken the concept and run with it. Their latest find, Detroit beatmaker and jazz drummer Karriem Riggins, has produced what could be the antidote to too much anodyne and predictable beatmaking coming from the US.
Riggins - his real name - is something of an unsung hero, popping up Zelig-like on hip-hop records by Common, Slum Village and Erykah Badu. He's also a full-on jazzer, playing the drums with combos like the Ray Brown Trio, and working with Paul McCartney on his recent Kisses On The Bottom record, and has even toured with Diana Krall.
For his debut, he produces a sprawling and inventive set of beats that begs the real question: When can he be paired with a killer wordsmith?
Breaks records were originally produced as 'DJ Tools' - records for DJs to muck about with to show off their scratching ability or make blends - sticking an acapella of one record over the breaks from another to impress the crowd (or not). Such records would contain loops of notable breakbeats, the kinds of 'bonus beats' you might find towards the run-out of disco 12-inches, special beat and bass-heavy mixes, or looped funny noises with beats on top.
Breaks records are often not even real albums, but literally collections of loops, so of limited interest to the record buying public. Stones Throw released one of the first big sellers, Super Duck Breaks by Lootpack's DJ Romes (credited as Turntablist), and the label has gone on to change the image of the breaks record by putting out records by the Tortoise rhythm section (the incredible Bumps in 2007), in addition to dozens of albums by the one-man breaks factory - Madlib, who has three entire series of breaks albums.
Riggins has a varied repertoire, with a clutch of solid head-nodders like 'Stadium Rock', 'Esperanza' and 'Harpsichord Session' sitting alongside more experimental 303-infused numbers in a Dilla or Flying Lotus style like 'Water', 'Up', 'Back in Brazil' or 'Voyager/500', which has already attracted the attention of producers like Mark Pritchard, looking for what's next post-dubstep. Riggins also has a series of overtly jazz productions such as 'Double Trouble' or 'Ding Dong Bells', and some that sound like they are recorded in a smoky club between jams ('Live at Berts', say) in addition to the inevitable skits and spoken word outtakes.
From the off, the record is infused with the sound of the MPC - in itself refreshing as so many producers have ditched making their beats on The Box to use computer-based set-ups like Ableton or Logic. Classy MPC workouts like 'No Way' and 'Bring That Beat Back (next time)' show why this is a much-missed medium.
Dominating the album are a few instrumentals screaming to be a bit longer. '6-4', at just 31 seconds, is simply not long enough, with a slacker-than slack beat, rumbling bassline and simple keyboard riff coming to an abrupt end.
'Moogy Foog It' follows a staccato 303-line and beat for 90 seconds with occasional synth washes and recollects something from The Neptunes' heyday. 'Stadium Rock' sounds like a lost rock break with rubberband bass and handclaps looped to perfection for little more than two minutes. 'Esperanza' showcased a summery and dare I say it cheeky trilling flute riff for 90 seconds.
Stones Throw have done a fine job here, and I await the next Riggins productions eagerly. Even the cover art looks great, with Together featuring Riggins on his drumkit in a way reminiscent of Art Blakey's classic Blue Note releases. This is a record that leaves you wishing for one thing more, though - some of these beats seem too good to be used on an instrumental, and could stand up handsomely against a powerful wordsmith. Stones Throw has a few on its roster (DOOM - perhaps a collaboration is inevitable? - or Percee P, whose Madlib produced debut underwhelmed), and it'd be nice to hear the material that makes Alone Together such a strong release alone no more.
Common, Karriem Riggins & Robert Glasper on Bringing More Live Music to Hip-Hop as August Greene
KCRW Presents Lockdown Listening: Karriem Riggins
The L.A. artist spoke with KCRW for its "Private Playlist" series
From
Karriem Riggins is a jazz drummer and hip-hop producer.
With a resume that ranges from Talib Kweli to Paul McCartney, L.A.-based drummer Karriem Riggins has assembled his kit in a borderless zone that encompasses modern jazz, hip-hop, classic singer-songwriters and whatever else tickles his fancy. Riggins studied with bassist Ray Brown and quickly became the go-to rhythmatist for Ron Carter, Donald Byrd, Oscar Peterson and other jazz icons. Honoring his own upbringing among the nascent rap and hip-hop scenes, Riggins became an in-demand beatmaker for Common, J Dilla and Erykah Badu among others. His expansive credits also include Elvis Costello and the Roots, Kaytranada, Norah Jones, Diana Krall and Esperanza Spalding. In late 2020, he released Pardon My French, a long-mooted collaboration with Madlib as Jahari Massamba Unit. For the Lockdown Listening series, Riggins speaks with KCRW about the music that's shaped his own playing.
I've been working on a lot of music, tracking drums daily and producing a few different projects. Being able to make music now has been more therapy than anything for me, with the climate of what's going on. It feels good to be able to create and work with like-minded people. It's actually beautiful not being on the road, being close to home and having a home life, which I've never experienced throughout my whole career. So it's given me time to be in my solitude, to hear my thoughts, and to be more creative than I've ever been. It's inspiring to be in the room that I created to make this music, instead of making beats on the airplane or in a hotel room.
KLEEER
I Love To Dance grabbed me immediately when I heard it. I was about 13 years old when I heard someone playing it on a boombox on a street corner. We were coming out of a Rite-Aid or something. I heard it and I was like, "What is that?" I was on a search for that record forever, and I didn't hear it again until I bought the record. You know, when you heard a song back then, you would listen to the radio every day to try to hopefully catch it, but I never caught it until I bought the vinyl maybe a year [later]. I looked for it for a long time, and that was one of my early buys.
MILES DAVIS
Nefertiti is a daily
soundtrack for me. I discovered it when I was in middle school. My dad
didn't have any of these records; the Miles he had was Relaxin' and Steamin'
and a lot of the bop stuff. So when I heard this, it was a surprise to
hear something so experimental. It was like [there were] no rules to
what they were doing, and it took the band to a new place. It makes me
feel like there are so many infinite possibilities in creating, because
they did it. Every second of what they did was something new and
innovative, and that let me know. I set the bar to the highest level.
GERI ALLEN
The Nurturer is one of my favorite records. I've been listening to it a lot over the last couple of months. Geri Allen
is a great pianist/composer from Detroit who passed away in 2017. She
made some great music over the years, and it's been a great inspiration.
This record is incredible, and I think everybody should have it in
their collection.
SLUM VILLAGE
The first Slum Village cassette was something that I discovered in a record store in Detroit called Street Corner Music. I would shop there almost every day. They had it at the counter, and I walked by it a few times. And finally, I just couldn't walk by it the last time. I'm like, "What is this? I got to check it out." So I bought the tape, and at the time I had a Pontiac Grand Am with two 12-inch speakers in the back. I popped the tape in, and from the four clicks of the MPC metronome into the intro, I was hooked from beat one. The way it sounded on that 12-inch speaker was incredible; it sounded so huge.
That was a big J Dilla discovery, hearing all his production. He's one of my favorite engineers as well as beatmakers, and that record is important to my development as a producer, musician, and music lover. He would dig for incredible records, and the way he would use these loops was different than anyone. Some of them [were using] the same samples, but in a different way. His perspective was innovative. "The Look of Love" is one of my favorites: the way he used the sample from "The Look of Love" as the motif for the rap and the chords. It's something that hadn't been done in hip hop, someone who really interprets a song they sampled and makes it into a hip-hop song. It's like a cover, but the way they did it was so original.
ROY HARGROVE
Tenors of our Time is an incredible record with Gregory Hutchinson on drums, who's one of my favorites, and who's done a lot for me and my career. This is one record that's close to my heart, because it's one of the records I had to study before joining Roy Hargrove's quintet. They came to Detroit in 1992 for the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival; that was the first time I heard them. It was incredible. We attended a late-night jam session afterwards. Gregory played and I played right after him. He gave me his number and said, "If you need anything, just give me a call." He wanted to recommend me to Betty Carter. He put me on a lot of gigs while I was in New York. Finally, he was leaving Roy Hargrove's band, and he asked me to join. That was a lifelong dream for me, especially coming from my favorite drummer at the time.
ELVIN JONES
Live at the Lighthouse is another one of those daily soundtracks. Elvin Jones is one of my favorite drummers, or close to my favorite. He recorded Live at the Lighthouse in 1972, and man: no piano, no guitar, no chords, just straight horns, bass and drums, and it gives you so much energy. One of my favorites is "Taurus People." It's a really special song. The way he plays the intro, he plays a lot of the melodies on the drums with the horn players. It's almost like somebody rapping, just following rhythmically. When I play with Common, if you were to follow the rhythms, that's coming straight from Elvin.
https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/artists/4479/karriem-riggins
About this Artist
Musician and producer KARRIEM RIGGINS was born August 25, 1975 in Detroit. Riggins’ parents realized their son was gifted at an early age: not only would Riggins dig through his parents’ record collection as a young child but he would also accompany his father to the studio and play with instruments in the likeness of a musical great. Riggins continued his ongoing affair with music by studying it in school and making hip-hop music during his middle and high school days.
Riggins turned his love into a profession, moving to New York City in 1994 at the age of 19. He joined Jazz Ahead, the band of renowned jazz singer Betty Carter, as a drummer. While Riggins strengthened and developed his forte, the jazz world became enraptured with such an exceptional performer. After working with Betty Carter and Jazz Ahead, Riggins went on to perform with and appear on recordings with various jazz greats such as Hank Jones, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson, Donald Byrd, Cedar Walton, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller, Ron Carter, Gary Bartz, and Diana Krall.
Riggins has made major accomplishments within the hip-hop world as a musician and producer. He produced tracks on some of Common’s albums, such as 1997’s One Day It’ll All Make Sense, 2000’s Like Water for Chocolate, and 2005’s Be. Riggins has also done production work for artists such as Slum Village, producing tracks on albums such as 2001’s Trinity, with the hit single “Tainted Love,” and 2002’s Dirty District. Riggins has also produced for Philadelphia’s own, The Roots, on their 2002 Phrenology album, with a track called “Quills.” Additionally, he has worked with Talib Kweli and Kanye West, where he helped Kanye demo some theme songs for Mission: Impossible III which featuring Twista and Keyshia Cole. Riggins produced a track for Paramount Pictures’ feature Smoking Aces called “Play Your Cards Right,” featuring Common and Bilal. Riggins recently produced “Solider,” a single from Erykah Badu’s 2008 album, New Amerykah, Part I: 4th World War. Currently, Riggins is in the process of developing his first self-titled album, showcasing his unique range as a hip-hop producer and established jazz musician.
Hip-Hop Producer and Jazz Drummer Karriem Riggins To Headline Tri-C’s Virtual Hip-Hop Homecoming
by Jeff Niesel
April 12, 2021
He's collaborated with J Dilla and Paul McCartney, and now Detroit's Karriem Riggins heads to Deluxx Fluxx
Staff Pick
by Jerilyn Jordan
December 23, 2019
https://www.okayplayer.com/news/karriem-riggins-stones-throw-intervew.html
Karriem Riggins Will Sleep When He’s Dead: The Stones Throw Producer on a Prolific Year
[Interview]
Chances are you’ve known Karriem Riggins longer than you think. Though a staple of Stones Throw‘s prestigious roster of producers, past and present, Riggins falls far outside of the beatsman mold. The son of prominent jazz composer and key player, Emmanuel Riggins, he’s found success as a touring drummer for stars like Dianna Krall and Elton John, yet remains on-call as the go-to man-on-the-skins for a heavyweight like Common, a friend and collaborator of twenty years. Their creative connection was first heard on the One Day It’ll All Make Sense closer, “Pops Rap Pt. 2/Fatherhood,” only strengthening through two decades of consistently potent, musically rich output.
Today, with the release of Common’s eleventh studio album, Black America Again, we see that bond crystallized in a rich tapestry of political savvy and romance. For Common, it’s a moment to use his voice, amplified as it’s ever been, to speak truth to power and address perpetual systemic failures. For Riggins, however, it’s also the first clear sign of a transformation that began with his debut solo record Alone Together — an album that defies all beat-tape conventions with deceptive depths in musicality, polish and stankface-inducing grit — from J Dilla and Madlib contemporary to producer’s producer. An MPC maven in his own right with the pedigree of his storied peers, Karriem serves as the lone producer of Common’s new album, as a composer and arranger alongside jazz-headed geniuses Robert Glasper, Elena Penderhughes, Keyon Harrold and the immaculate Stevie Wonder, tipping a hat to his homeschooling as he blurs past rattling safe foundations.
With Karriem you get the technical know-how of a seasoned studio rat and the fearless sonic explorations of the bedroom beat scene’s best all at once. It’s no wonder he’s got everyone from Kaytranada to Kanye knocking on his door. Which is to say that even with a mile-long resume of superlatives, the best is still yet to come.
And so we chatted over a buzzing line while he made his way through snappy NYC drivers, fresh out of rehearsal for a benefit show with Krall and Rocket Man himself (promising to inform that latter of his inclusion on Tribe’s final farewell), ruminating on this most prolific year. Despite the chaos he is as calm as can be, grateful to have taken the ride, knowing it’s far from over.
Below you’ll learn what’s to come. Pick up Common’s new album Black America Again on iTunes or stream it via Spotify to hear the gawd at work.
____________________________
Okayplayer: It’s been a crazy year for you. Would you say you’re currently at your most visible?
Karriem Riggins: Most definitely. On the production side of things … definitely. It’s been a blessing.
OKP: Well, let’s start with Black America Again. It’s a big beautiful record, but you and Common have been working together since One Day It’ll All Make Sense right?
KR: Yeah. Basically since I met him in 1996 it’s been an ongoing working relationship.
OKP: Can you speak to your chemistry as musicians? What’s it like to be in the studio with him?
KR: In a studio session he’s wide open for creativity man. And there are no boundaries to where we can take it. He’s just one of those open-minded musicians. Like a jazz approach. A lot of jazz musicians that I work with like exploring the possibilities of where things could go and that’s what he’s about. And he’s a phenomenal emcee.
OKP: Did you know when you stepped into the studio together you’d be knocking out a whole album?
KR: No initially it was supposed to be an EP. And he hit me up to do an EP. Like “Yeah I’m working on an EP. Let’s just do a strong five songs, and put it out.” And that was the idea initially… and I just kept sending beats. And he kept writing songs. I think I was in Australia at the time. We did the five and then it turned into six and then it turned into eight, and now like 14 songs.
https://www.passionweiss.com/2021/02/26/karriem-riggins-interview-2/
“If You Don’t Continue to Practice, Then You Will Lose It:” An Interview with Karriem Riggins
Photo by Alex Solca
When I speak to Karriem Riggins, he’s on his way to Sunset Sound in Hollywood. From the outside, it’s an unassuming mid-century L.A. bungalow with signage that unironically recalls a 1970’s Malibu surf shop. Inside is a hallowed creative wellspring where Prince, Elton John, Aretha Franklin and the Stones (to name just a few of its illustrious past residents) all made seminal music. Riggins isn’t here to record his 1999 or Exile on Main Street, at least not knowingly. He just wants to practice the drums from a space that drips with potent musical energy.
Riggins has been drinking from the source since before he left the womb. Although he’s probably best known as a key collaborator of Dilla and Common with fingerprints on any number of seminal rap releases from Fantastic Volume II to the The Life of Pablo, this drummer and producer has successfully navigated the current to some truly rarified locales. From drumming with musical hero Roy Hargrove before he could legally drink to playing at the Obama White House, the breadth of Riggins’ work is impossible to chart except through the pedigree of the people he’s worked with — Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Erykah Badu, Esperanza Spaulding, J Dilla…
Like his influences, the list is endless.
The occasion for our conversation is the release of his latest collaborative project with Madlib, Pardon My French under the rather awesome moniker the Jahari Massamba Unit. First introduced by Dilla himself, Riggins and Madlib have been making and exchanging music for years. Their latest is a joyful jazz freak-out awash in cascading fills, murky breaks, dissolving keyboards and liquid basslines. It’s impossible to tell what’s live and what’s sampled or who’s playing what. Listening to the album feels like eavesdropping on a collaborative conversation that first began with Dilla’s passing. Their rapport and experimentalism echo the partnership that Riggins’ father, the noted Detroit keys player Emmanuel Riggins, enjoyed with drummer Roy Brooks over the course of two decades, making out-there jazz sounds for the sheer hell of it.
Despite the heady context, Karriem isn’t overly concerned with questions of intent, genre or legacy – he’s a rhythm master whose anecdotes collapse time; a genre chameleon who demurs over questions of style. When you’re this deep in the musical waters, the practice is deceptively simple. You avoid the things that take you downstream, away from the pull of the current and you seek the places where ideas flow. — Joel Biswas
Let’s talk about the partnership behind your Jahari Massamba Unit album Pardon My French with Madlib. You guys have an association and collaborative relationship that goes back like 15-20 years.
Karriem Riggins: Man, I met him back maybe around 2004. I met him through Dilla at a show. It was a J-Live show where he introduced us and we stayed in contact. He’s one of my favorites, one of the greatest. So it was just a blessing to finally get a chance to have some of the music that we created together see the light of day. We did a lot together over the years.
You guys worked together on the Yesterday’s Universe project which is where I first saw the name “The Jahari Massamba Unit Feat. Karriem Riggins Trio” back in 2007 as performers on a track called “Umoja (Slave Riot).” Is this a continuation of that project?
Karriem Riggins: It’s a fusion of a lot of things that we’ve done over the years.
It sounds incredibly organic. What is the process of creating and recording together like?
Karriem Riggins: Man, what’s crazy is, we would pass each other CD’s and beat tapes at parties. We would plan to meet up and go out on and we would each come with a stack of CDs. Some would be stuff that I’m inspired by, some of it can be my beats, some of it can be just drums… And he started creating music to the drum projects that would bring to him. It just blossomed into us doing that. We were simultaneously working on other things as well but we started to stack this as the repertoire of Jahari Massamba Unit. It was mainly like I give him the CD and he will come back a week later with an album. So we were doing like an album a week.
After hearing this album, I have the same experience that I had listening to your earlier collabs – the sound of a real live band vibe with lots of instruments and players. Does Madlib bring live instrumentation to the table? Does he play stuff?
Karriem Riggins: Yeah, he does. I think we’re both the same. And I think the message that we like to convey to the world is that young producers can be more than just producers. Madlib is a prolific, great musician who can produce. He’s a chameleon who can do many things. It’s important for people to know is that he’s not limited to just one thing. A lot of people know him for one thing but once you hear this project, you hear how multi-faceted a person can be.
I love how it evokes the idea that of a band. This feels like a great moment for this album – the rise of “spiritual” jazz artists like Kamasi Washington and Shabaka Hutchings or the rediscovery of politically minded jazz of the late Sixties and Seventies. What were your influences for this project?
Karriem Riggins: I don’t necessarily think that we made it with any others in mind but I’m going to say I’m influenced by Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Trane, Monk, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones. Madlib has his inspirations as well. I think that fusion of what I love and what he loves, our voices together are a collage of everything that we love, trying to add onto the art or the music that we study. We already had a plan for this to come out prior to this pandemic and everything – that actually postponed the release. And with this whole pandemic and everything, I really started to dig back into the music and it was just no time, better than now for this music to come out. I think people need it more now than ever. But I really don’t like putting a date on stuff. I just think especially to me, what we do is timeless. Putting a date on it and mentally takes you down another path. A lot of the music that we love is better without a date.
Are there any particular artists or records that Madlib has turned you on to someone whose got an ear for rare sounds?
Karriem Riggins: Man, we pass each other so much music. Elvin Jones is one of my favorite drummers and he’s putting me onto some of Elvin’s stuff that I had never heard. At the time, [the LP] On the Mountain was a hard find and he had that record and he brought it to me, man. I was like, ‘Whoa.’ It just blew my mind — Elvin Jones in the seventies doing a kind of a fusion sound with keyboards but staying true to the essence of the drums, still playing in his style through that era… he put me onto a lot of stuff like that. It definitely blew my mind that he would be that deep into stuff that I would want to hear, you know what I mean? When you find somebody like that to connect with, it just elevates you. It inspires me and it lets me know how far we can go know musically.
Anything that you’re particularly proud to have put him onto?
Karriem Riggins: I mean, I can’t even really remember but pretty much everything that I love, man. I got a lot of Miles Davis bootlegs, just kind of crazy stuff, man that I’ve definitely passed on to him. Just recently in the last couple of days, I put him on a great artist that he was familiar with but not with this particular record, The Nurturer by Geri Allen which it was recorded back in 1991 with Kenny Garrett, Rob Hurst and Marcus Belgrave on trumpet. I let him know how important that that record was to me. And he really dug it.
Growing up, your father Emmanuel Riggins was respected jazz musician.
Karriem Riggins: Yeah, he played piano and organ around Detroit with Marcus Belgrave and Roy Brooks and prior to that he played with Grant Green for a lot of years. That’s what brought us to Detroit, a local residency that Grant Green had in the early Seventies. My father had a local collab with Roy Brooks, duo gigs. My dad played bass with his left hand and piano with his right. And Roy would play drums. Roy had this thing he would do playing rhythms off of bouncing basketballs and toy monkeys, doing wild stuff like playing a saw [laughs].
In terms of your path as an artist, is it safe to say that you started out as a jazz player?
Karriem Riggins: No, ‘cos I had always been doing hip-hop. Like fifth, sixth grade is when I started looping stuff, but never professionally until I moved to New York. I played drums professionally as a teenager doing going gigs around Detroit which is what led me to New York. That’s when I got a chance to meet a lot of my heroes and saved enough money to buy my first MPC 2000, which is when I can say my career as a producer started, in ’95. That was a good year. I bought my MPC from DJ House Shoes. We went to high school together.
What took you to New York?
Karriem Riggins: I was a big fan of Roy Hargrove in high school and I went to see them play and I met the drummer Gregory Hutchinson, who’s one of the greatest drummers of our time. We were at a jam session and he heard me play and he’s played with Betty Carter for years. And he’s like “I want you to meet Betty Carter, man. She has this thing called Jazz Ahead when she features young musicians and I want to connect you with her.” And a few days later, Betty Carter called me and flew me to New York to play. And that was my first introduction to New York city when I was 17 years old. From that trip, I never went back home. I saved enough money to stay in New York and just made it happen, made it work.
From the point of view of hip-hop as another passion in your life, what was it like arriving in New York in 1995?
Karriem Riggins: Man, it was incredible just being there. I would find like the sessions and the places where those guys hang out just to hear that and be a part of that, you know? At that time, Guru was around town a lot. I met Grand Puba. New York was a beautiful place at that time.
So you’re in New York and you’re obviously spreading your wings as a jazz player and you’re playing with Betty Carter. At what point did hip hop become part of your career?
Karriem Riggins: I joined Roy Hargrove’s band and moved back to Detroit for a year. And that’s when I bought my MPC and just I learned how to work it without a manual. I really dug into that machine and I started to shop beats. Then I met Dilla in ‘96. So just being around him… Man, he set the bar so high, higher than you can ever imagine to this day. It’s just a big influence on me. His work ethic and everything just stepped my whole musicianship to another level. When we met, he was working on Fantastic Volume 2. And our first collaboration was when I played drums on that song “2U4U.” Right after that, he told me he was going to work on Welcome 2 Detroit. And I was telling him, “I’m doing these beats, man. I want you to hear some of my beats.” He was, like “Come through the basement.” So I would frequently go to his basement and play beat tapes that I created. And finally he heard one of the things that I did and he really loved it which he picked for Welcome 2 Detroit and that song was called “The Clapper.” That was the first beat I ever sold that I made with a drum machine.
I don’t want to digress as it’s probably talked about a lot, but how would you describe his style? It’s so original and a touchstone for so many aspects of music production but I’ve always found it hard to characterize.
Karriem Riggins: First, I’ll say that I’ll never not want to talk about Dilla. I talk about Dilla all day and it takes these kinds of talks to continue his legacy, to keep his name ringing. So yeah, it never gets old just like his style never gets old. It’s very futuristic. It’s original to where it cannot be copied. It can’t be duplicated. The same as Thelonious Monk or Herbie Hancock – nobody can do these people. There’s just something special that they brought to this art form that can never, ever be duplicated. Dilla made history. There aren’t any other producers that I would say have changed the way that a piano player or bass player hears harmony because he heard it in such an original way. I don’t think has ever been done. To this day, a lot of people are influenced by him and don’t even know that it’s the source of what they’re doing. That’s how big his movement is, the music that he created, his style.
Given your roots in Detroit scene, did you have common friends and collaborators when you first met?
Karriem Riggins: The only common friend that we had was House Shoes and a rapper named Beej who we went to high school with. House Shoes and Beej were like my homies and they knew Dilla. And from there I met T3, Phat Kat, Baatin, QD… all the dopest cats around Detroit.
And you met Madlib through his work with Dilla?
Karriem Riggins: Yeah, exactly. It was at a Jaylib show in L.A. But we didn’t exchange info or anything until later. I think we connected after Dilla passed and that’s when we really, really got tight. Dilla brought so many people together, man. He had so much love and was just so generous with music and knowledge of music. It brought all of us together, man. A lot of cats in L.A., we were inspired together. It was like a brotherhood. Madlib and I would see each other at parties. I would run into him at the Do Over. We just stayed in touch and when we started passing each other CD’s, that’s when it all kicked off. I think we’re kind of limited to what we hear and what we know. Practicing and listening to a lot of music will expand your ears and your ability. I think it’s all practice actually because it’s not something that just arrives. You can hear that he’s practiced and he’s has such a great knowledge of music. I’ve found loops that Madlib has used and as a student of the music you loop it up… for the sport of production. But it’s not gonna sound the same. The way he manipulates loops… I think he has a gift of finding different ways to make stuff original. When he programs it’s a high level, the way he mixes, he’s one of my favorite engineers. I heard he did the last Freddie Gibbs record with an iPad. That just shows you that you can do anything. If you can hear it, you can do it — on any, any device, any instrument… if you can hear it, you can do it. To be able to do that on an iPad speaks volumes.
What is your practice like? Where do you spend your time?
Karriem Riggins: I use different periods of time doing different things. Sometimes I think it’s just important to listen and not do anything. So I’ll listen to a lot of music maybe for a couple of weeks. Right now I’m in the period where I’m recording drums every day. I’m on the way to Sunset Sound right now to record drums all day for the next week. Sunset Sound is a classic studio where Prince did Purple Rain — he was there from ‘82 to ’87,’ 88. There’s just so much vibes in there. So I’m just using a lot of the old equipment and that’s like going to school. Working with some of these old consoles and learning how to record drums and mic placement and all of that. That’s just another part of the creative process of getting a sound that you want. So you’ve got the listening, you got the recording and then the practice man, that’s most important, especially as a drummer. It is one of the most physical instruments and you got independence and all this left right brain stuff going on. If you don’t continue to practice then you will lose it. I play through all the patterns that I’ve either been practicing on or that I hear in my head and all of that and I bring it back to my studio at home and I make beats. That’s where the beats come from. Or I’ll hear a loop and I have so many patterns that I’ll know exactly what would fit whatever I chop or loop. It’s just bringing everything together. That’s my process.
What is Madlib’s process like? Is he as reclusive as his reputation would have it?
Karriem Riggins: I think that he is on a position as a producer and artist that he doesn’t need to necessarily be in everyone’s face or be onstage performing. He could survive doing what he loves from his “bat location” and I think that’s his voice. I guess people could say he’s reclusive when he has been in the Batcave creating some of the most classic innovative music ever. It takes time and it takes being in an introspective, kind of solid place to do that.
Who are your drumming heroes?
Karriem Riggins: A drummer in Detroit by the name of Lawrence Williams, who was a prolific writer as well, he was one of my favorites, still one of my favorites. Roy Brooks, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes… Jerome Brailey who did all the Parliament stuff and with Mutiny is one of my favorites. Jeff “Tain” Watts. Gregory Hutchinson, who I spoke about. George Davidson who is drummer in Detroit actually put together my first snare drum. I didn’t have a set. I just had a snare and he put that together for me.
So I wanted to ask you about one beat in particular — “30 Hours” and how it came to be on Kanye’s The Life of Pablo album.
Karriem Riggins: I had known Kanye around the time I met Madlib, really. I toured with Kanye on what I want to say was his first tour, the Kiss the Sky tour. It was Omar Edwards who’s a great producer and piano player. He played bass and pretty much all the instruments on the keyboard and then I had an MPC and a high hat and Kanye had a string section with four string players. And that was the band. We did the full United States tour and that was pretty crazy. That’s how we initially met and I would play him beats from time to time. When my album Alone Together came out, I got a call from his A&R, saying that he heard the record and he loved it and he loved in particular the song “The Boy is Doing It” and he was like, “Do you have any or anything like that ‘cause Kanye is working on something. Now, it’d be dope if you had some beats to send.” This was around the time that he was making Yeezus. So I sent him beats and “30 Hours” was on that beat CD and he picked it out. So when Yeezus finally was announced and came out, I was like “I didn’t make it.” A few years later it popped back up into the conversation on The Life of Pablo.
I’m a big Arthur Russell fan. It was a crazy thrill to hear him sampled like that.
Karriem Riggins: Oh man, that record is genius, man. The way he recorded it, the way he mixed the voice, the echo — it’s next level.
So dope to have Andre 3000 on a such a perfect beat and it always kills me that he doesn’t rap on it.
Karriem Riggins: Yeah, it was dope, man. I’d been talking to Andre 3000 back and forth around the time that album came out, sending him beats, trying to land the right one with him and it’s just dope to finally have something with them on it. But hopefully one day we’ll collaborate on something. And it was dope too to have El De Barge on there, which is not on the album but there’s a version of it that is floating around the internet.
That’s amazing. Let’s talk about your most recent project with Common, Robert Glasper and others – that’s a hugely ambitious project.
Karriem Riggins: Thank you, man. I appreciate that. I just think that I’m a work in progress and I’m learning a lot like at this present time recording all these drums. I think it is only right to have the greatest musicians come in and create something new. Sometimes the sample is relevant and sometimes bringing the live instrumentation and coming up with something new is the way to add on to the art form. So to have Isaiah Sharkey, Burniss Earl Travis II and Robert Glasper and to be able to interpret their music is a blessing. I’m just honored to be able to work in this way and produce in this way.
Your work with Common is another long-standing creative partnership.
Karriem Riggins: Yeah, what I do love about him is that I feel like he is the greatest – as an MC, as a person, as a friend – very inspiring and he pushes everyone that he works with to want to do their best. It’s like, we can do some dope music but it’s not going to work for him unless it’s incredible. So we ended up doing hundreds and hundreds of beats. I mean, I’ve got hundreds of beats that we’ve created. And I just think that kind of work ethic will push you to be great. And that’s our connection, you know what I’m saying? Wanting to present the best music, wanting to just evolve and be innovators.
It’s got sharp commentary and timely politics.
Karriem Riggins: That’s just his process, man. It’s a balance. We have songs that are about love and you know, the message is the message, man. And that’s the most important thing is for him is using his voice to speak to the masses man and say something good and say something relevant, bring a controversial conversation that needs to be talked about. I think that’s important for him.
It’s the 20th anniversary of the Soulaquarians movement. You were on the scene and working with artists associated to that scene – are some of those ideas and aesthetics coming full circle in 2021?
Karriem Riggins: I wasn’t part of Soulaquarians although I’m a huge fan of each and every one of them — maybe because I’m a Virgo [laughs]. I was in Detroit a lot. I peeked in on a few sessions during Like Water for Chocolate and Electric Circus and they were making some of the illest music ever. I hope someone has some of what they recorded on two inch or DAT stashed away somewhere. Because like you said, it’s relevant. The stuff that they were doing now is timeless music like we were talking about, some of the craziest stuff I’ve ever heard- having Dilla involved and playing bass on, Questlove? on drums, James Poyser — all these guys. They’re all my heroes.
What big projects are on the horizon for you?
Karriem Riggins: We just started The Beautiful Revolution, Part Two. My album is close to being completed, working with a lot of people, man. I’m starting a label with my manager, Jay Barber. We started the label just to present music that we love, man. It’s a lot of artists that are unheard. I want to be able to release my music and these artists and present something super positive into the universe. So that’s what I’m working on now.
Your last album Headnod Suite was firmly in the style of sample-based hip-hop. What is this shaping up to be like?
Karriem Riggins: It’s very different, man. The two records that I have out are beat tapes, so to speak. This is more the producer hat — working with artists that I really, really love. I’ve got about three albums now so I don’t know if I’m going to do volumes or a different title for each one, but I got a chance to get my favorite artists that I’ve been wanting to work with forever here. It’s still coming together.
One last Dilla question. You co-produced Dilla’s final project The Shining and he passed before it was completed. What was it like completing it in his absence? How finished was it?
Karriem Riggins: Oh man, I’d say it was about 70% done. I don’t want to really throw that percentage out there and not be right. We started it together in LA. We did the first sessions with J Rocc. One of the first songs was “Body Moving” and we did a lot of live music, pulled in some rappers. But there were songs that he wanted certain rappers on. There were like certain instrumentals where I felt it needed someone to rap on but we hadn’t talked about it. Like the intro was done with Busta but there was a song “Jungle Love” that I pulled Guilty Simpson and MED onto. “Loving Moving”– I pulled Black Thought onto that one. I had to add some interludes because the album and “Dime Piece” with Dwele. There were a few elements that it needed to be a complete project rather than an EP.
That’s a crazy legacy to be a part of.
Karriem Riggins: Yeah, man. He left all the tools for us to complete it. I got a call from him when he was very ill. He wanted me to help him complete it, like “I need you,” and I helped complete the record. But I didn’t know what he was asking at the time because I always had optimism for his health. Like I always thought he could pull through — because he had been very sick, prior to that last time and he’s always gotten better. So it was like Dilla will be alright — he’ll be good.
Of the many artists you’ve worked with who has been the biggest thrill to work with?
Karriem Riggins: I want to name Dilla. I’ll say Madlib… like it’s super-classic, man. Almost everybody that I’ve worked with has been a blessing, man. It’s been a learning experience for me to get to where I am now — working with Diana, Krall working with Paul McCartney. Common — working with him as a fan of his music when I met him. It’s been a blessing in my career to be able to grow up being a fan of artists and then working with them. The lesson is to be a great listener and student of the music, never feeling like a master. I don’t want to ever feel like I mastered this, like I got this. I want to always humble myself to learn more and be better. I think with that in mind, there is room for growth and that’s what it’s all about.
Drummer on a roll: Karriem Riggins comes home for Jazz Fest shows
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37o3st
Karriem Riggins Boiler Room London DJ Set
https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/interview-karriem-riggins-unsung-jazz-hop-genius/
Interview: Karriem Riggins, unsung jazz-hop genius
If you like the intersection of jazz and hiphop, you must get familiar with this man.
If you like the intersection of jazz and hiphop, you must get familiar with this man.
Photo by B+
Birds chirping in the background, Karriem Riggins spoke to me from his mother’s house in Detroit. He was rehearsing the Karriem Riggins Virtuoso Experience, which hits Seattle Monday at Triple Door.
Here’s his Myspace, and an example of his laid-back side.
After the jump, everything you need to know about him.
News
Blurb from WhoSampled:
“For our latest interview, we’re very pleased to speak with Karriem Riggins, the Detroit born drummer and producer who, in addition to a raft of solo material, has collaborated with an absolute who’s who of talent in the worlds of Hip Hop, Jazz and Soul: J Dilla, Madlib, Common, Slum Village, Robert Glasper, Norah Jones, Kanye West, Donald Byrd, Milt Jackson … and the list just goes on. We catch up on Karriem’s extensive career and talk about his latest releases including full length collaborations with both Common and Madlib plus a new album in the works featuring a standout cast of guest vocalists.”
http://www.bonafidemag.com/karriem-riggins-stepping-shadows/
Karriem Riggins: Stepping out of the shadows
Karriem Riggins is stepping out of the shadows.
Instrumental in many works without his name on the cover over the years, most recently he’s produced the whole of Common’s album Black America Again and has just released his sophomore full length for Stones Throw Records, Headnod Suite, a sequel to 2012’s Alone Together. Mostly a beats-only statement of intent, it’s far from just a beat tape – more of a 29-track journey to lose yourself in, hitting a variety of emotions along the way.
“I think it’s beat driven but there’s so many different elements that it’s kind of like its own thing,” reflects Karriem. “Beat tapes are like roughs, sketches. This is more… it flows, that’s why I call it a suite.” The album kicks off with what would be Karriem’s ring-entering theme if he was a professional wrestler rather than producer: 49 seconds of 1970s-evoking brass showered with J Rocc cuts. Did Karriem envision this as kicking off the LP? “I did not! Actually, I made that for Common, he was supposed to rap to that, and it just turned into the intro. J Rocc laid the cuts through and made it very grand, with the ‘Ladies and gentlemen…’ and all of that, made it super dope. J Rocc is the man; he did all of the cuts on that album. We actually have a duo, a drum/DJ duo that we’ve been doing, we did a tour in Japan recently. He plays a lot of breaks and stuff, and I play along with it and we make songs. It’s kind of crazy.”
#360Video
February 4, 2016
Stones Throw
In the dungeon with Karriem Riggins & J Rocc, for an improvisational performance of J Dilla's "Lightworks" and "E=MC²" | Video by Ross Harris, location audio and mix by Stanley Gonzales. Special thanks to GoPro! #360Video
There seems to be a definite narrative running both within tracks and over the album as a whole, substantiating the suite approach. “That was important to bring the album together, especially with the interludes. The interludes were the kind of finish, the seasoning of the whole project.” Then we get Suite Poetry right in the middle, a beautiful and lyrically reflective joint featuring Detroit-based poet Jessica Care Moore which acts as a transition point that pulls you into a lamenting piano loop. “I have not known her that long, but I have known of her and I’ve always thought she was incredible. And then the placement, I wanted the music to lead up to that… it’s an abstract poem but it makes sense, it brings some type of theme, it’s very thematic. I’m grateful that she was able to do it too. We’ve been talking about it a while.”
Even before its release, the cover art to Headnod Suite, an 8-bit stylised version of Karriem’s head, was fast becoming iconic. “That’s definitely what it is, that’s definitely an old school graphic. Strictly all the genius of Jeff Jank who works at Stones Throw. He’s responsible for a lot of classic artwork there, like Quasimoto. He’s just done incredible things. He sent me seven different choices, maybe a little less, that one I saw and it just caught my eye, I just knew that that was the cover.”
The video game influence rears its head surprisingly little over the course of the album, with the exception of the wistful Crystal Stairs, which recalls the 8 and 16 bit eras with aplomb and obviously comes from the mind of a games head. “I was, but making that track I was so far from even thinking about that. Afterwards, when I started to add effects like the 8 bit sound on the actual sample, it started to sound like that, it was crazy. Then I made the drums sound like that as well. It’s kind of reminiscent of that era. I played a lot of those games back then, like Metroid, The Secret Of Mana, The Legend Of Zelda, a lot of those games had hip music, man. Zillion was cool.”
Precluding Headnod Suite’s release was Common’s Black America Again, completely produced by Karriem and featuring significant contributions from jazz man Robert Glasper. One imagines Karriem and Common’s relationship is a particularly unique one given the years they’ve known each other. “I’ve learned a lot from him over the years, learned what emcees need to hear to be able to write to a song, or make it something special. Those things that I learned from him I incorporated into music, then the fact that I got to collab with Robert Glasper on a lot of that album was a different feel from everything I do, that collaboration was super dope. I would have ideas and have them ready so that when Robert came to the studio we would have stuff already in place, so he’d add on to what I produced. The ones that we co-produced together, like Black America, the actual song (also featuring Stevie Wonder), and Pyramids, I had those drums already done. He came in, and he’d add a piano part, and a keyboard part.”
Thematically, it was important to Common that Black America Again was released in election year. Does Karriem think enough artists are coming forward and making relevant statements in the current political climate? “I don’t, not as much as when I was young, in the 70s. Everyone didn’t use their voice then either, but you had your Marvin Gayes, and Donny Hathaways and people, speaking about what was going on. But sometimes, music is a getaway too. Some people want to get away from what’s going on and be in a beautiful place, you know? I think for the ones that do use their voice, it’s needed and it’s important, but it’s also important to have the freedom in music to feel free. Just like movies. People go to movies to get away from reality. Some music is that way as well.”
Karriem’s first album, Alone Together, was released back in 2012. How does releasing the follow up compare? Are all the ideas fresh or are some pulled from his archives? “Some of these ideas… well, I tend to store ideas. Sometimes, I’ll sit on an idea for years before I embellish it, and some of those have been sitting around for a while. I feel like music is timeless, that it’s kind of progressive and doesn’t have a trendy thing of that time, it’s been sitting around but it’s still relevant. I just tried to put the musical knowledge that I have now, and include that with some of those ideas. From Alone Together, yeah, you can hear the growth. I feel like this one is more beat driven because I played more instruments and a lot of live drums, it’s more drum driven than the last one.”
He’s been elated by the response so far. “Man, the label has been sending me information on the reviews and they’ve all been great. I really stay away from all of that, I really don’t pay too much attention to that, I put all my heart and soul into the music and I just give it to the world. Some will receive it, some won’t. Some will like it, some won’t. I feel like I’m trying to contribute to the art form and music from my perspective, you know.”
“I put all my heart and soul into the music and I just give it to the world.”
As is the case with an integral label such as Stones Throw, a vinyl version of the album has been released. Was cutting the album to wax a consideration in deciding a track order? “Yeah, we had to pick the songs for each side on the double vinyl, and it had to make sense. The A and B, the second vinyl first song had to be a certain song… so definitely, it played a big part, the vinyl.”
Much is often made of Karriem’s musical lineage, as he learnt the drums from his father Emmanuel, who spent time performing with jazz guitarist Grant Green. What lessons has he carried with him from his dad? “The lessons were just like, try to be the best at what we do, and never miss a chance to pay attention, to learn from the greats. I’ve been around a lot of great musicians like Ray Brown, and a lot of those guys. The best thing to do is just be silent, and enjoy the time and try to be a sponge. I learned that, as well as listening to as much music as we can, we’re sponges and that music, you internalise all of that stuff when you hear it. The more you hear it the more information you’ll have under your belt. Those are the lessons. And practice. Practice is the most important thing, practising whatever craft. My days are full of practice. I practice the drums, I practice DJ-ing, and I practice chopping beats, playing keyboard synths, all kinds of stuff man. It’s almost like a never-ending story, it keeps going. We never master it, we get good at certain things, but it’s a never-ending thing, we just got to keep going. I learned those things.”
“I’m still a student, I always will be a student. One thing I really want to do is inspire the youth, there’s a whole other generation now with incredible ideas and different perspectives, I wanna’ be able to feed them what they need to get their thing going. That’s important right now. My son, he’s making beats now, he’s playing the drums. He’s ahead of me, what I was when I was his age. I was nowhere near that level of talent. I feel like we have to feed them what they need to grow, musically. And as far as the art form in general.”
“My son, he’s making beats now, he’s playing the drums. He’s ahead of me, what I was when I was his age.”
“My son listens to everything, and he makes his decision on what he likes and what he doesn’t. I try not to be, even if I don’t like something, I won’t say I don’t like that, because I want to give him a chance to be an individual and make that decision on his own. Or even people that just look up to you, they wanna’ form their opinion around what you like, so I just try to keep it neutral.”
One of my favourite Karriem facts is that he was behind the Slum Village remix of Daft Punk’s Aerodynamic on the Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger single, when many mistakenly believe it was a J Dilla production. His musical history is intertwined with Dilla’s, a close friend of his, and he oversaw the final production of the 2006 album The Shining. “I did the remix. Dilla was the first guy that sampled Daft Punk (actually one half of that act, Thomas Bangalter’s 1998 track Extra Dry). And that was on Raise It Up, on Fantastic Volume II. The sample wasn’t cleared, so when Daft Punk’s people heard it, they loved it. But they said this cat didn’t create the sample; so instead of a lawsuit let’s just get a remix from him. At the time, I don’t think Dilla was available to do it so he reached out to me, and that’s how that came about and I ended up doing it.”
Karriem worked with Slum Village on their third album, following Dilla’s departure to concentrate on his solo career. “I worked on the album Trinity with them, I did three songs on the album including the single that came out (Tainted, featuring Dwele).”
What does Karriem miss most about his friend’s contributions to music? “Man, Dilla brought something that is missing right now. Especially, he didn’t have any boundaries in the studio. He made whatever I did sound great. I know some of the drums I would play, I would do another take, say let’s have a couple options. He’s like: ‘Uhh, nah, let me mess with this one minute.’ I’d leave the room and come back, and it would sound incredible. I’m like, ‘what the hell…’ I think that that is what’s missing, and that was just one of the things that really inspired me from him. I just… I just miss being around that brother, and he was just a great person to know. An inspiring person. He’s definitely missed.”
The repercussions of Dilla’s legacy included not only plenty of inspired music but also a lot of attempts at emulation. Where’s the innovation right now? “There’s some people doing great things everywhere. I went to Japan, I heard incredible music there. The producers that are killing it now, like Kaytranada and 14KT, of course Madlib who is one of my big inspirations, his work ethic is inspiring. Being around him is crazy man, so I definitely got people that I really dig that are inspiring. I think the music is growing, there’s still great music being made, and sometimes you gotta’ dig for it, you gotta’ dig for the good stuff. It’s not in your face.”
Riding the crest of Headnod Suite with his name front and centre, Karriem isn’t about to rest up anytime soon. “I’m working on this new Common EP with Glasper, should be out in mid-spring. Working with Esperanza Spalding, on her new album. And just trying to create new music every day. In fact I’m on my way to the studio now, gotta’ keep the practice going!”https://www.portlandmercury.com/music/what-you-feel/Content?oid=468057
What You Feel
The Successes of Karriem Riggins
Son of a jazz organist, virtuoso drummer Karriem Riggins broke with legendary vocalist Betty Carter's band at age 17. Now the 32-year-old, who has amassed some impressive hiphop production credits, including finishing up the posthumous J Dilla release, The Shining, has partnered with prolific producer Madlib for his rapping debut and a hiphop-informed jazz excursion. The Detroit native, one-time New Yorker, and current Los Angeleno who long volleyed between straight-ahead jazz and hiphop, manning the kits for everyone from Diana Krall to Kanye West and producing for Native Tongues spawn Slum Village and Common, now finds himself bridging the gap between genres and generations.
Blame it on his youth. When backing Betty Carter, Riggins learned to avoid clichés, a feat he's managing by knowing both musical landscapes and ledges. Mining those two wells, he's created what he believes to be a "colorful" sound.
"I think of it as: There are so many different rhythms that have not been played and haven't been presented," he explains via phone from Los Angeles. "We need to strive to search and find those new styles 'cause music evolves. I just want to keep the new fresh sound."
That vitality served Riggins well during post-production of the 2006 thriller Smokin' Aces. Called to the studio by friend and film co-star Common, Riggins, beat machine in tow, he sat down and crafted a few prospective tracks for the theme whilst the original producer drove home to retrieve his forgotten files. Riggins' last impromptu creation, a grandiose old-world number later titled "Play Your Cards Right," won him the job, and he still chuckles in cheerful amazement at the fortuitousness of it.
The 2K Sports Bounce Tour that brings Riggins and the Stone Throw crew to Portland marks Riggins' first time rapping live (excepting some freestyles kicked at various Madlib DJ sets), and he is eager to perform their new material. As the Supreme Team, Riggins and Madlib take "the core rugged hiphop inspiration" and couch it with their varied influences, and as the Jahari Masamba Unit, the two producers exercise their jazz chops. What they will be up to this Saturday at Berbati's, Riggins can't call. "Anything is liable to happen. We like to do whatever we feel."
August Greene - Karriem Riggins on His
New Collaborative Album with Robert Glasper and Common
A Chemistry that Clicks
Under The Radar
At this stage, Karriem Riggins can work with anyone. He already has. If you’re not already a fan of one of the most dynamic and creative drummers in the business, then you’ve undoubtedly heard his craft on albums by artists as diverse as Kanye West and Paul McCartney, Diana Krall and J Dilla.
Most recently, he and fellow musical genius Robert Glasper decided to lean into their chemistry with rapper/actor Common after completing his 2016 release, Black America Again. The end result wasn’t Common’s next album, as expected, but an entire new outlet called August Greene. The trio are creating positive, jazz-influenced hip-hop compositions that defy categorization.
We recently sat down with Karriem to discuss the trio’s chemistry, their self-titled debut album, their focus on positivity in a negative world, and how they came together in the first place.
Matt Conner (Under the Radar): You’ve released a couple singles so far, so how are you feeling about the early response?
Karriem Riggins: So far it’s been a great response. The first single was “Optimistic,” and there’s so much positivity in the song. That’s touched the hearts of the listeners. So far, it’s been awesome.
You and Common and Robert could easily work with any number of other artists and musicians at this point, so what made this the right assemblage and time to come together?
Well, we worked on the Black America Again album with Common, and we’d talked about collaborating for years—me and Common—and had a plan to put out a producer/rapper album. The working relationship that we had with Robert, once we’d started working on Black America, and the energy of our connection was just crazy. Once that album came out, it felt like we were missing something not creating, so we wanted to continue to create.
Common booked studio time and the idea was to make another Common album. But we came with the idea like, “Look, we’ve got this collective. Let’s just do this.” It’s a great machine that we have and we’re inspired around each other. We laugh around each other. We’re brothers. We also make great music together, so it went without saying.
Have you had such a collaboration in the past not work out chemistry-wise or creatively like you thought it would going in?
Not really. I feel like all of the collaborations I’ve done were great and were stepping stones to get me to the next level musically, just learning. I’ve got a chance to collaborate with some great people. One of my favorites was with Madlib. We’ve got projects that are still in the can. It’s just a blessing to work with like-minded people, and I’m a fan of Robert’s music and I’m a fan of Common’s music. They’re at the top of their game, so I feel like we’re all inspired to get to the next level.
You mentioned the energy or connection being a highlight, but can you take us into that? What makes it that way?
It’s almost like someone thinking of something at the same time. That’s wild to me. I’ll do a drum pattern and think, “Man, if Robert laid this rhythm with this chord, that would be crazy.” Then he’ll sit down without me saying a thing and do exactly that, but it’s 100 times better than I thought it would be. So you let everyone do what they do without tampering with it. It’s organic and it feels like it’s from another place. It’s like a superior being has our hands and our best interests in presenting this music. It was definitely crazy, but crazy in the best way. [Laughs]
Do you share common musical touchpoints when you compare notes of what you grew up listening to?
Definitely. Glasper and I are both jazz musicians and our parents were musicians. My dad played the organ and played with Grant Green for a lot of years. Robert’s mother played the organ as well. Yeah, we share a similar background listening to music and growing up around music. Also growing up on the jazz scene in an early age, I moved to New York when I was a teenager and Rob did too. So we shared that sentiment of the music.
Common was a lover of the music just from listening to records. I think he discovered jazz through listening and finding the samples that other rappers sampled. That’s how he discovered jazz, from what he told me, and that’s interesting how it brought us all together.
You said it was supposed to be a Common album. Now you’re going by August Greene. I’m assuming that created some complications since there’s already a known audience for any of you personally, yet you decide to start something new.
Well, the music was pushing boundaries for something that a rapper might not necessarily want to do under his own name. It’s so next. Some of the stuff that we’re doing, Common’s fanbase is not familiar with that sound. So to create a new entity is creating a new fan base, but you can also pull all of our different fan based into what we’re doing, which was the plan in creating August Greene.
Where did [the name] August Greene come from, by the way?
We came up with that a while ago. It’s a play on words and there’s so many ways to define what it is. It’s more of an abstract play on words that just connected. The music sounds like August Greene. [Laughs]
The music is speaking to a lot of cultural issues and social concerns. When you’re bringing that to bear on the music itself, which you want to keep accessible and enjoyable, is that ever a difficult tension?
The reins are in Common’s hands for a lot of that content. Robert and I might have an idea for a chorus, but Common takes that and runs with it. For most of the songs, there’s no real direct message or one theme. He touches on so many different themes within one rhyme. He’s the poet and knows how to sneak it all in. You ingest it and you’ve heard about five or seven different subjects in one run, which is dope, because the attention spans of some people are so short. To be able to speak to those things and have it stick is genius. I don’t know how he does it.
Is that the typical way you work is that you and Robert put the backdrop together and let Common do this thing over that?
Sometimes I’ll go into the studio and do a drum session. I’ll bring those drum ideas in and have them on deck. Then we’ll set those to the side and we’ll just play ideas. It’s almost like listening to samples. Common will be in the control room and we’re just jamming out. Then we’ll hear him in the microphone, “Yo, wait! I need to embellish right here.” Then once we’re done with the session or finished with those ideas, then I’ll put out those drum sessions. That will spark Robert and then we keep stacking ideas. That becomes most of the songs that are on the album.
“Black Kennedy” just dropped as a single.
I started playing one of those drum patterns and Robert came in and played some ideas. We finally got married to the last idea that is the take. While we’re doing that Common is freestyling in the control room the whole time. By the time we got into the control, Common was like, “If I was a Kennedy, I’d be a Black Kennedy…” I was like, “Woo, that’s crazy!” I asked him what it really means and he said, “You know how the Kennedys were considered royalty?” He was basically saying that we are royalty as well. We can dream and aspire to be the greatest. That’s a beautiful thing to touch on, especially now with Black History Month and pride. There’s so much positivity in that.
Is that a goal, even an unspoken one, to be that positive? You’ve mentioned that a couple times.
Definitely and this has always been the content that I wanted to connect to. Jazz music is so positive to just hear the harmonies. It’s all positive and makes you feel happy. In hip-hop, R&B, and all music, there’s music that can give you the same feeling. That’s the music that we all want to create and want people to feel that.
Each of you could be busy with so many projects, so how much time and attention does August Greene receive?
This is really high priority for everyone. We all have managers who come together as a team and lawyers who come together as a team. We get the availability of everyone on the table so that when things come through, we know that we can do them. We have some shows coming up soon, like the Kennedy Center, and we’ll have some promo shows coming up, too. We’re looking forward to the tour.
OPTIMISTIC - August Greene featuring Brandy
https://www.amazon.com/Optimistic-fea...
Karriem Riggins - "Chopped Worm"
Detroit hip hop producer and J Dilla associate Karriem Riggins has a new track out that's in tribute to the recently deceased Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, who was once the frontman for the legendary Ohio Players.
Not only is Riggins creating an incredibly funky sendoff for the band's former singer, but he's uncovering a bit of hip hop history here by chopping up one of the group's most sampled songs, "Funky Worm." The track's squealing keyboard leads have turned up in numerous hip hop releases from the West Coast. From N.W.A. to Kendrick Lamar, "Funky Worm" isn't going out of style any time soon.
Karriem Riggins- "Summer Madness”
Karriem Riggins
Biography
Riggins was born August 25, 1975 in Detroit, Michigan, United States, son of keyboardist Emmanuel Riggins. As a child, he would often watch his father perform with Grant Green, Marcus Belgrave and others. He joined the Kennedy Elementary school band in the sixth grade as a trumpeter, studying with Belgrave, where he played for two years in addition to drums before switching to drums full-time in the eighth grade.
Riggins was a DJ, producing hip-hop and performing in three different school bands at Southfield High School before leaving school in the eleventh grade. He joined Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead band soon after at age 17 and moved to New York in 1994,[1] later joining the Mulgrew Miller trio. He also performed in bands with Steven Scott and Benny Green before joining Roy Hargrove's band in the middle of 1995.
After three years with Hargrove, Riggins joined the trio of famed bassist Ray Brown. After leaving Brown’s band, he began producing hip-hop extensively and serving as the bandleader for rapper Common’s band, A Black Girl Named Becky. Riggins had met Common in 1996, and began spending time with the rapper during visits with notable hip-hop producers.
Riggins also met J Dilla, a fellow Detroit native, in 1996. The two were later reintroduced through Common and developed a close friendship through the end of Dilla’s life. Riggins frequently cited Dilla as a primary influence and being personally responsible for helping him overcome multiple creative ruts throughout his career. During the course of their friendship, Riggins produced and appeared on multiple J Dilla albums including Welcome 2 Detroit and The Shining.[2] He credits Dilla for purchasing the first production he ever sold, for “The Clapper” on Welcome 2 Detroit.
As a drummer, Riggins has also recorded and/or performed with Donald Byrd, Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Norah Jones, Cedar Walton, Roy Hargrove, Esperanza Spalding and Bobby Hutcherson.[3] In 2011, he collaborated with former Beatle Paul McCartney in concert and on Kisses on the Bottom, McCartney’s first studio release in five years. He currently tours with another Ray Brown protégé, pianist Diana Krall.
Away from jazz, Riggins has done production work for hip hop artists including Slum Village, Erykah Badu, Common, J Dilla, The Roots, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Kaytranada, Earl Sweatshirt, Phat Kat, Consequence and Dwele.[4] He has collaborated with the hip hop multi-instrumentalist Madlib, performing on his 2007 album Yesterdays Universe and in collaborations entitled Supreme Team and The Jahari Massamba Unit.[5]
Riggins released his debut full-length album, the instrumental double-LP Alone Together on Stones Throw Records on October 23, 2012. Prior to the full album release, Stones Throw released the two halves of the album separately on vinyl as well as digitally exclusively through their website. Alone was released on July 30 and Together followed on October 2.[6] He spent much of 2016 at work on Common’s much-heralded Black America Again album, which featured Stevie Wonder on the title song and included a performance at the White House as part of NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” series. On February 24, 2017 Riggins released his second album on Stones Throw, Headnod Suite.[7]
Along with Common and Robert Glasper, Riggins received the award for Outstanding Original Music & Lyrics at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the song “Letter to the Free” which appeared in Ava DuVernay's Netflix documentary “13th”.[8]
He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.[9]
Discography
Albums
- Alone Together (2012)[10]
- Headnod Suite (2017)
- Pardon My French (2020) (as Jahari Massamba Unit with Madlib)
Production credits
- with Common
- 1997: One Day It'll All Make Sense
- 2000: Like Water For Chocolate
- 2002: Electric Circus
- 2003: Come Close (Remix) (Closer)
- 2005: Be
- 2007: Finding Forever
- 2016: Black America Again
- "Joy and Peace" (featuring Bilal)
- "Home" (featuring Bilal)
- "Black America Again" (featuring Stevie Wonder) (co-produced with Robert Glasper)
- "Love Star" (featuring Marsha Ambrosius and PJ)
- "On a Whim Interlude"
- "Red Wine" (featuring Syd and Elena)
- "Pyramids"
- "Unfamiliar" (featuring PJ)
- "A Bigger Picture Called Free" (featuring Syd and Bilal)
- "The Day The Women Took Over" (featuring BJ The Chicago Kid)
- "Rain" (featuring John Legend)
- "Little Chicago Boy" (featuring Tasha Cobbs)
- "Letter To The Free" (featuring Bilal) (co-produced with Robert Glasper)
- with J Dilla
- 2001: Welcome 2 Detroit
- 2002: The Diary
- 2006: The Shining
- with others
- 1994: Stephen Scott - Renaissance
- 1995: Mulgrew Miller - Getting to Know You
- 1996: Rodney Whitaker - Children of The Light
- 1996: Eric Reed - Musicale
- 1998: Rodney Whitaker - Hidden Kingdom
- 1999: Junko Onishi - Fragile
- 1999: Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown and Milt Jackson - The very tall band, live at the Blue Note
- 2000: The Ray Brown Trio - Some of My Best Friends Are... The Trumpet players
- 2001: Daft Punk - Aerodynamic (Remix)
- 2002: Mulgrew Miller - The Sequel
- 2002: Slum Village - Dirty District
- 2002: Slum Village - Trinity (Past, Present and Future)
- 2002: The Roots - Phrenology
- 2003: Dwele - Subject
- 2003: The Ray Brown Trio - Walk On
- 2003: Mulgrew Miller - Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 1
- 2003: Mulgrew Miller - Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 2
- 2003: The Detroit Experiment - The Detroit Experiment
- 2005: Slum Village - Prequel to a Classic
- 2006: Gilles Peterson - Back in Brazil
- 2007: Consequence - Don't Quit Your Day Job!
- 2008: Keziah Jones - Nigerian Wood
- 2008: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
- 2009: Diana Krall - Quiet Nights - Live in Madrid
- 2010: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)
- 2010: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Timeless: Suite For Ma Dukes
- 2011: M.E.D. - Classic
- 2012: Madlib - Medicine Show: The Brick
- 2012: Paul McCartney - Kisses on the Bottom
- 2014: Theo Croker - Afro Physicist
- 2015: Orrin Evans - The Evolution of Oneself
- 2015: Diana Krall - Wallflower
- 2015: Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt
- 2016: Elzhi - Lead Poison
- 2016: Esperanza Spalding - Emily’s D+Evolution
- 2016: Norah Jones - Day Breaks
- 2016: Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
- 2016: Kaytranada - 99.9%
- 2017: Nick Grant - Return of the Cool
- 2018: Kandace Springs - Indigo
- 2020: Diana Krall - This Dream of You
Awards and honors
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, Common, Robert Glasper and Karriem Riggins for "Letter to the Free" from the documentary film 13th, 2017
External links
