Riddem and Mustabar (formerly Mustafa Akbar) greet each other with a fist bump and “Nappy Riddem!” before settling down jovially for conversation at Current Sushi. As Nappy Riddem the two create “psychedelic raggafunk” with a warm, laidback upbeat vibe.
Rex Riddem aka Troy McLean grew up in suburban Maryland listening to his parents’ funk, soul and Motown, records before moving on to hip-hop, ‘60s rock and reggae while attending Sidwell Friends and Maret High School. In the mid-‘90s he got hooked on electronic dance music at Catastrophic, Fever and Buzz parties and was inspired to learn to deejay on his roommate Buster’s turntables. As DJ T. Rex, he spun hard techno as part of the legendary Snowball Collective.
Riddem took up the djembe, then congas, and started drumming live while Buster deejayed at Jaded at Red thrown by the Thunderball/Fort Knox Five guys.
When Riddem visited Brazil in 2002, he got turned on to percussion intensive Afro-Brazilian music. He later returned to study percussion at a samba school in Salvador, befriending class translator Carlos Scorpiao, who sang vocals and played guitar on Riddem’s first produced track “Salvador Diaspora”.
“Brazil was really moving because their national identity and tourism push Afro-Brazilian music — rhythms from Africa, the Caribbean — Afro-Latin rhythms, part of the culture displaced African people brought with them mixed with European melodic structure. The mix of reggae, dub and Brazilian we do is new world diasporic. It’s taken on a life of its own with any type of musical influence being accessible.”
Riddem’s DJ adventures include a residency at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, and gigs in Hawaii, Portugal and Brazil. Riddem is a resident at Metro in Roanoke, has worked as an executive producer and manager, and currently books at Policy.
Mustabar grew up in Philadelphia spending summers with his grandparents in Lignum, Virginia. His mother was a nurse and his father a “truck-driving gospel vocalist.” Mustabar was singng gospel at age five, in local glee clubs, and got into hip-hop, reggae and the Philadelphia international soul sound.
Mustabar moved to DC in 1985, landing a job as doorman at Red and singing with DC reggae band the Soul Defenders, then to Lignum in 2002 (where he hosts the annual Mustock Music Festival, July 30-August 1, www.mustock.com). Akbar has released two independent funk soul solo albums titled “Natural High” and “That Day,” and is well-known as Eighteenth Street Lounge’s doorman.
One night outside Red, Thunderbolt/Fort Knox Five member JonH heard Mustabar singing and exclaimed, “Wow, man, you can sing!” JonH asked if he’d be interested in working with his mates Steve Raskin and Sid Barcelona. Mustabar says, “Our first endeavor was ‘Heart of the Hustler’ and we’ve been family ever since.”
“Mustafa quickly became an integral part of the Thunderball sound and live band,” says Raskin. ”We met Rex and he began playing percussion with Thunderball. Thunderball has been the nexus for their creative growth and it’s great to see them launch their own project. Mustafa has the spirit of Curtis Mayfield reincarnated, and I love Rex’s take on Afro-Latin-funk rhythms. Rex’s production with Mustafa’s vocals combine for a unique twist.”
With Thunderball, Riddem and Mustabar toured North America, Russia and Mexico, and got to record with Afrika Bambaataa.
Their first release, “Nappy Riddem,” coincided with James Brown’s passing and became a shout-out to the Godfather of Soul. With almost a dozen tracks ready including “Rastar” and “Devil Need a Bodyguard,” they’re aiming for a year-end album release. Contributors include vocalist Asheru, Thievery Corporation guitarist Rob Myers and bassist Ashish Vyas, with remixes by Empressarios and Ancient Astronauts.
Mustabar says, “‘One World Sovereignty’ is always a crowd pleaser.” “When we performed it at Earth Dance last year,” says Riddem, “the amazing response solidified it as our closing song.” Nappy Riddem plans to tour Brazil this fall.
Says Mustabar, “Nappy Riddem is a representation of Rasta lifestyle, like the locks, but you don’t have to have locks. ‘Nappy’ was meant to be derogatory. No one wanted nappy hair because they believed it wasn’t good hair. We’re dispelling that, embracing who we are and inviting everybody to be down with nappy. Just free up and be yourself.”
“Anybody can be nappy,” grins Riddem.
It’s clearly contagious. “People overjoyed by your music — the reward in that is so great,” says Mustabar. “You can’t buy that.”
You can catch Nappy Riddem on Sunday, July 4 at U Street Music Hall as part of the “Big Boom” event, which features Fort Knox Five and See-I. $10. 18+.
U Street Music Hall: 1115 U St. NW, DC; 202-588-1880; www.ustreetmusichall.com
[googleMap name="U Street Music Hall" width="770" height="235"]1115 U St. NW, DC[/googleMap]
