Mumu Fresh Talks Wammie Awards Win & New Single “Find My Way Back”

Grammy Award-nominated singer, songwriter, rapper, and composer Mumu Fresh is ready to enter a new era. Last month, the multi-hyphenate unveiled “Find My Way Back” — an afrobeat and house-inflected ode to healing that serves as the lead single for her forthcoming fourth album. Mumu chatted with The Bulletin about the creative process behind “Find My Way Back,” her new album, and the importance of preserving Black indie music scene culture.

Where was your mind at when you were crafting “Find My Way Back?” What was your intention with this song? 

This is actually the last record that we put on the album. The album has a dance-afrobeat-house feel. This was the last joint on the record, and I was like, “I need something different, something in the middle.” We got some R&B stuff, we got the house music, but we needed a bridge. Vidal just started playing some different tracks, and when he put this one, I was like, “Oh, yeah. This is it. This is the bridge.” When I heard it, the hook finally came to me. I feel like sometimes melodies and words come to me before I even know what they mean. Sometimes when you write, the writing process exposes things that you might not have unpacked yet.

As I was writing, I was thinking about coming out of a pandemic and finding a way back. I remember my first time being onstage post-pandemic… I was uncomfortable! I wasn’t feeling like my breath control was there, I was feeling emotionally lost, all these different things, and I needed to remind myself of who I am. You done been through way worse. Get up there! Not only can you bounce back, but you can still launch forward. So, as I was hearing the hook I was recording, I was just unpacking my own stuff — all the ways in which we can find our way back.

What about these specific sounds — like afrobeats and house — made them the right fit for the message you're trying to share with this song?

I feel like it needs the dance. The dance helps get that stagnant energy out. If you just unpack without the movement, that kind of energy can still stay stagnant in your body. I feel like working it out while you move helps the healing happen. That’s what I was missing.  

I see music as color. When I'm putting the album together, I try to make sure all the colors are compatible. I want those warm feelings. I love Afrobeat music in general. I toured in Nigeria and worked with Femi Kuti, who's the son of Fela Kuti, the father of Afrobeat. We actually recorded a song together in Nigeria. I’ve always been a big fan of his, as well as James Brown. I love the connectedness between funk music and Afrobeat, and you'll hear that present this album. We have a larger body of work that we're probably going to break up into two albums. Between the two, you'll hear all those different sounds.

Talk to me about this upcoming album!

This project is called The Healing, and it is a culmination of producers from different places. Jazzy Jeff pulled together this group of producers. Daniel Crawford, Terry Hunter, Kenny Dope. Eric Roberson is writing on this project. Masego is writing and singing on this project — my litter brother, I love him. He’s like the male version of me. When we get together, we are so freaking foolish! This is my first collaborative project of this magnitude. I'm definitely more of a solo writer, so it was great having that experience of writing together with so many accomplished musicians, producers and songwriters.

When is the album dropping?

I know that we’re releasing the next single on May 12. The full project is supposed to come out in June. I gotta check with the distributor about the exact date. I don’t wanna tell you no lies! I'm excited about the next single. It's called “Grateful.” It's really dope. It has that kind of afrobeat feel, and it's just that feel-good song.

You won two awards at the Wammies last year. You won the Hitmakers Award this year. What do the Whammies mean to you?

It's really dope because it's love from home. I was born in Baltimore, but from high school on, I stayed in DC, and so much of my music career really happened in DC. I had been in bars singing since I was 14 and at the open mic spots and the poetry readings and all that kind of stuff where you build your chops up. It's one of the things where if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. We got a chance to really celebrate that because so many of those places where I gigged from the time that I was young are totally gentrified now. There’s no trace of our history and what we experienced there… what U Street used to really be for so many of us. Even dating back to Duke Ellington, that was really a music haven. So much of the culture has been lost. I wanted to honor that time period.

I tributed my award to all of us who were on that U Street scene, who built our chops up [there], because not a lot of people go through that anymore, right? Where you pay your dues, where you're doing the open mic circuit, where you play in the agency bands, the wedding bands, funeral bands, all types of things. I've had to sing every kind of music imaginable, and it just made me so much stronger as a performer, writer, singer, and rapper. I can rap over anything, any time signature, any genre. I can sing over anything, any key. And there are a lot of artists that can't do that. They're very temperamental. Things got to be perfect for them to be able to sound good and they can't transpose on a spot. I literally can do any of that. I'm grateful for those circumstances. We trained in the fire. So the Wammies are really important because, as I said, it's your hometown showing you love. It also gives me an opportunity to be able to highlight some of the other artists who may never be recognized. That's what I did when I had my opportunity on stage. I shouted out those venues and those bands and those artists who may never really see no kind of recognition. And I performed one of my songs called “Back to the Money” with my band and accompanying drummer, Queen Cora, who has played with Beyoncé and Prince.

You’re a fervent supporter and protector of independent artists. With AI infiltrating the music industry at a frighteningly fast speed, how do you think independent artists can protect themselves against record labels using AI to exploit them and their art?

I don't know what we’re walking into right now. Independent artists represent the ground level of the people. We always got numbers. And I think the greatest thing that worked against us was us feeling like we needed the system more than the system needed us. They can't put out music without us, right? Even AI has to sample us. They need us to create. They can take, but they can't create. They don't have that. The creative process comes from our creators, the spiritual process. I just feel like us banding together really has to do with us not losing our power and not giving in to whatever new stupid low-end deals they're going to offer because of our fear of being obsolete.

What are you listening to right now?

I actually already started working on another album. My DJ, DJ Dummy, said, “You haven't done an all rap album in a while.” I said, “Alright, I'm going to come out there and we gon cut a whole rap album.” So, I've been listening to some of my favorite rappers because I'm always listening to rap. I went back to some of my favorite albums like Aquemini and The Black Album. I really love Kendrick [Lamar]. I love 3D Na’Tee, she's mad dope. Some old Kanye. I went back to Chance the Rapper, some old Raekwon, some old Ghostface. I’m getting in that mindset before I get in the booth.