Karriem Riggins

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1975, Karriem Riggins operates at the crossroads of jazz and hip-hop, with a loose yet dense drumming style that naturally converses with his work as a producer. Raised early in the musical environment of his father, keyboardist Emmanuel Riggins, he played in school orchestras before joining Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at 17, then performed with Mulgrew Miller, Roy Hargrove and Ray Brown, which initially placed him in the American jazz scene of the 1990s. From 1996, Riggins developed in parallel a central role in hip-hop by working closely with Common and J Dilla—two enduring collaborations that marked his trajectory. He later appears alongside artists as diverse as The Roots, Erykah Badu, Slum Village, Kanye West, Paul McCartney, Norah Jones and Esperanza Spalding. Under his own name, Karriem Riggins released Alone Together in 2012 and Headnod Suite in 2017, two instrumental records blending loops, breaks, soul, beatmaking and jazz composition. He also formed August Greene with Common and Robert Glasper, as well as Jahari Massamba Unit with Madlib; with the latter he released Pardon My French in 2020 and YHWH Is Love in 2024. In 2024 Karriem Riggins also released To the Jungle.