A look back at Muja Messiah’s career ahead of his ‘Legacy Series’ show TONIGHT at Icehouse
Tonight, Saturday July 8th, Muja Messiah will be performing the first installment of the ‘Legacy Series’ at Icehouse. The venue describes the series as “event dedicated to local heroes that have an impact on what’s going on in today’s Twin Cities urban music scene and beyond. The Legacy Series will feature the artist performing a discography of their greatest music along while being backed by a live band.” Doors at 10:30/Show at 11pm, tickets are $10. Maria Isa hosts. More info HERE.
Ahead of the show, Jon Jon Scott (@SoundVerite1) looks back at what has brought Muja to this moment.
On Tuesday, September 11th, Muja Messiah was scheduled to fly to NYC to begin working on what would become his debut. The year was 2001, and on that day, the Twin Towers fell. Muja Messiah called me in NYC like, “What the f the planes are bullshitin”, and asked if he could fly later that day. Of course, he couldn’t, but he would fly into NYC by the end of the week, and as we were walking down 8th Avenue heading to Fat Beats Records, we ran into dead prez and kicked it with them for a few days. In the mist of the world collapsing, Muja Messiah only cared about one thing, making records.
In this environment Muja Messiah would become even more informed of the American psyche. Muja Messiah’s style encompasses a wide range of the political, revolutionary, flamboyant, humorous, non-apologetic, and always hustlin’.
Some of the songs recorded were used on an unreleased mixtape Some of My Best Friends are Black, others for his debut Thee Adventures of a B Boy D Boy, with assists from Slug (Atmosphere) and Black Thought (The Roots) and working with producers Doc McKinney, Bean One, Haas G (UMC’s) Mr. Khaliyl (Bush Babies) and Che Pope (Kanye West/Lauryn Hill).
Muja Messiah would follow up his debut with a series of mixtapes: Minneapolis Massacre Vol.1 and M-16, collaborative projects like Villa Rosa with his future wife, artist/activist/teacher Maria Isa and 9th House with I Self Devine. On his second record, the critically-acclaimed God Kissed It The Devil Missed It with producer Mike The Martyr, he recruited I Self Devine, Brother Ali & The Coup, Nazeem & Planet Asia. On Angel Blood Soup, his third record (also with producer Mike The Martyr), he gets assists from DJ Maseo from De La Soul, Metasota, Sophia Eris, Greg Grease and Maria Isa.
For his first 2017 release he goes even harder with producer TEK on Pyrexpedition. Muja Messiah will release Saran Rap produced by Roc Marciano with guest Oh No, Guilty Simpson & Roc Marcaino this summer. As always, this new work is thoughtful and full of fury with the narrative of an insightful mind.
For his show tonight, Muja will be performing songs from throughout his career with a live band. You can stream tracks from Muja’s career HERE and watch his video for “Pocket Full of Slave Owners” with Brother Ali and Boots Riley below.
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