I was recently blessed to share time and collaborate on a song with the beautiful young singer from Nigeria named Nneka. Nneka is a special artist, much in the style of a young Lauryn Hill or Eryka Badu. And, like the musical heritage of her birthplace, Nigeria, she helps carry the torch passed on by the great late Fela Kuti – using her gift of music to inspire and inform the people. After seeing her perform live in Los Angeles during Grammy week, I decided she would be a perfect voice for the international collaborations with conscious Hip Hop artists I am doing for the soundtrack to my current film project, Beat the World. Beat the World writer/director and my dear friend Rob Adetuyi shared my excitement about the possibility, especially since he is also of Nigerian dissent.
Nneka got together in my studio, talked about the film and our shared mission of using music as a way to connect and inspire people to move in a more positive directions. The song is called Express Yourself, which Nneka does quite naturally. We recorded her vocals in Hamburg last week. I am pairing her with another amazing voice in the global conscious music scene, whose name I will reveal in one of my upcoming blogs.
Nneka, whose name means “mother is supreme” grew up in the delta region of Nigeria and moved to Hamburg when she was 18. She recorded two albums there, making her mark on both the German and UK charts. She has also supported other notable artists such as Femi Kuti, Bilal, Gnarls Barkley, Sean Paul and the Roots and is slated for the upcoming Lilith Fair and Nas/Damian Marley tours this coming summer. Nneka’s US Debut album, Concrete Jungle, hit the stores here just after the Grammy’s, with an inspiring first single called “Heartbeat.” Our friend and remixer extraordinaire, JPeriod, put out a mix tape with her to help promote the CD, which features Talib Kaweli. If you are in Austin during the South by Southwest Music Festival this month, you should try to catch one of her five shows there.
