Muhsinah (; born July 20, 1983) is an American

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nominated singer and producer, from

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She cites

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

and Chopin as among her influences.

Musical career

A graduate of the

Duke Ellington School of the Arts The Duke Ellington School of the Arts (established 1974) is a high school located at 35th Street and R Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., and dedicated to arts education. One of the high schools of the District of Columbia Public School syst ...

and of

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

, Muhsinah's self-produced EP ''day.break 2.0'' (2008) was described by

XLR8R ''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine. History and profile ''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in S ...

magazine as "a beautiful smack in the face of mainstream hip-hop and R&B convention". Though a small scale independent release, it attracted the attention of rappers

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

as well as

Phonte Phonte Lyshod Coleman, known mononymously as Phonte (born December 28, 1978), is an American rapper, singer, and producer. He is also a member of Team Supreme, that co-hosts the Questlove Supreme podcast. Phonte is a member of the North Caroli ...

of Little Brother/ The Foreign Exchange, both of whom she later recorded with, appearing on Common's Universal Mind Control and The Foreign Exchange's Leave It All Behind. The ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' has written of her as being "part of a new breed of young soul rebels who seamlessly meld electronic beats with layers of jazzy arrangements and unorthodox song structure", and as "equally at home chopping loops and tapping pads on an

Akai MPC The Akai MPC (originally MIDI Production Center, now Music Production Center) is a series of Music workstation#Third generation music workstations, music workstations produced by Akai from 1988 onwards. MPCs combine Sampler (musical instrument), ...

as she is behind a piano keyboard". Muhsinah was acknowledged by

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

frontman,

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the vocalist and main songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. ''Rolling Stone'' desc ...

, on their website Dead Air Space on March 15, 2010www.radiohead.com
when he listed the song, "Lose My Fuse (Produced By

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), better known as Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper. He has released seven critically acclaimed albums: ''1983'' (2006), ''Los Angeles'' (2008), '' Co ...

)" among his favorites at the time the post was published.

Awards and nominations

Discography

Extended plays

Production

*''Ruff Drafts Volume 1'' (Track: 3) – JapaNUBIA Musik 2006 *''Getback'' (Track: 6/7 Interlude ) – ABB 2007 *''day.break'' (Tracks: All) – Rxlngr 2007 *''pre.lude'' (Tracks: All) – Circulations 2008 *''Higher Ground'' (Track: 3) – Wayna Quiet Power Productions 2008 *''The Awakening'' (Track: 3) – JapaNUBIA Musik 2008 *''Border Breaker'' (Tracks: 1,3,5) – Ghetto Falsetto 2009 *''The Oscillations:Sine'' (Tracks: All) – Rxlngr 2009 *''The Oscillations:Triangle'' (Tracks: All except 2,4,5 & 7) – Rxlngr 2009

Guest appearances

*''Ruff Drafts Volume 1'' (Tracks: 3) – JapaNUBIA Musik 2006 *''I Predict A Riot'' (Tracks: 1 & 18) – Soulspasm Records, Inc. 2007 *''Cuba After Market'' (Tracks: 3 & 13 ) – Humble Monarch Music/Rawkus 50 2007 *''Producer No. 1'' (Track: 7) – Fat City Records 2007 *''Suite903 No.15'' (CD#2 Track: 16) – Fader Label 2007 *''Blunt Park Sessions'' (413) (Track: 2 ) – Rude Squire/Rawkus 50 2007 *''Higher Ground'' (Track: 3) – Quiet Power Productions 2008 *'' Leave It All Behind'' (Tracks: 1, 5 & 10) – Hard Boiled 2008 *''Down To You 12"'' (Track: B1) – Planetgroove 2008 *''

Universal Mind Control ''Universal Mind Control'' is the eighth studio album by American rapper Common. Originally scheduled to be released on June 24, 2008 under the name ''Invincible Summer'', the release date was pushed back to September 30, 2008 due to Common's ac ...

'' (Track: 7) – G.O.O.D/Geffen 2008 *''Arale 01'' (Are In Be) – Arale.tv 2009 *''Odd Summer EP'' (Track: 8) – Oddisee Music 2009 *''Adroit Adventures 12"'' (Track: A2) – Ubiquity 2009 *''Kilawatt: V2'' (Track: 1) – Kilawatt Music Limited 2010 *''Love2'' (Track: 10) – Reel People Music Ltd. 2023

References

www.muhsinah.comBenji B, BBC 1Xtra, April 11, 2008.
*Devin Barrett. "Half Hip Hop, Half Amazing", Issue No. 83, ''

TRACE Trace may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995 * ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993 * Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band * ''The Trace'' (album), by Nell Other uses in arts and entertainment * ...

'', August 2008. *Fritz Hahn, Rhome Anderson and David Malitz
"Nightlife Agenda"
''Washington Post'', November 15, 2007. *Jalylah Burrell
"Muhsinah Creates Homemade Physics"
Issue No. 3, ''FADER/F2'', August 2008.

External links

"Construction"
official Muhsinah video on Rxlngr Incorporated' channel @ vimeo.com
Radiohead
{{Authority control 1983 births Living people American women singer-songwriters American contraltos American music arrangers Record producers from Washington, D.C. American keyboardists American film score composers American electronic musicians American women pianists American women in electronic music 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American pianists American women record producers Singer-songwriters from Washington, D.C.