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On The Rise: Mumu Fresh

Twelve tracks from a Grammy-nominated singer, rapper and songwriter of Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee and African American heritage. Mumu Fresh is one of the most complete artists you have probably not heard.

Maimouna Youssef, called Mumu Fresh

Maimouna Youssef was born in Baltimore and raised partly in Philadelphia by theatrical parents who home-schooled her. She attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C., and her heritage — Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee and African American — is central to how she presents her work.

Her breakthrough came in 2007 with a Grammy nomination for her vocal on The Roots' "Don't Feel Right," and she appeared in Dave Chappelle's Block Party the same year. She has released the Black Magic Woman EP, The Blooming, and Vintage Babies with DJ Dummy, featuring Common and Malik Yusef, and performed a Tiny Desk concert in 2018.

She is both a rapper and a singer of real technical quality, which is rarer than it sounds — most artists who claim both are considerably better at one.

What to listen for

This is a sequenced project rather than a compilation, running from an Intro to "Walks on Water Speaks (Outro)," and it works considerably better heard in order.

"North Star" with D Smoke is the standout collaboration — D Smoke, the Inglewood rapper and teacher who won Rhythm + Flow, is one of the most literate MCs working, and the pairing is well judged.

"Reparations" is the most direct piece of writing here, and "F.E.A.R (False Evidence)" works the same territory. Given her Indigenous and African American heritage, her writing about American history carries a doubled weight that very few artists can claim.

"Find a Way" features Amber Navran of Moonchild, whose gentle, jazz-inflected soul is a natural fit, and "Time" features the poet Amir Sulaiman.

"What's the Use in Praying" is the most emotionally exposed, and "Breathe" with Ra Brown opens the record properly.

Go deeper

Her Tiny Desk concert is the fastest way to understand what she does live, and it is superb.

Vintage Babies (2017) with DJ Dummy is the album with the highest-profile guests.

For the Baltimore and D.C. scene she comes out of: The Roots as the Philadelphia connection, Wes Felton, Raheem DeVaughn and the wider D.C. soul community.

And for Indigenous artists in contemporary music — a badly under-covered area — Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jeremy Dutcher and Black Belt Eagle Scout are three very different starting points.

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