Karriem Riggins – “Headnod Suite” (Release)

Karriem Riggins and Stones Throw dropped Headnod Suite today. It’s a 29-track instrumental project with a lone feature from Jessica Care Moore doing a spoken word piece. Stream some snippets, a single from the project, and read a bit more about the concept and more below.

For Headnod Suite, his second album on Stones Throw Records, Riggins expertly builds on his credentials with 29 tracks of pure hip-hop—each track deftly crafted with swing that only a drummer would know. Swing is the weapon. And there’s always a message, be it verbal or instrumental.

“Headnod Suite is a concept of several rhythmic ideas fused together,” Riggins says. “I wanted to explore the power of interludes and marrying different styles and harmony together.”

On Headnod Suite, Common makes a reciprocal vocal appearance on “Yes Yes Y’all,” which gives way to literal grunts from James Brown and the 1-2 shot of “Trombone Love” and the 16-bit funk “Crystal Stairs.” If 2012’s Alone Together was right at the intersection of hip-hop and jazz, Riggins’ current path is less the jazz found in his family and career lineage, and more the hip-hop culture he found on his own.