NnamdÁ¯ Is Happy to Keep Everyone Guessing

With NnamdÁ¯’s musical output incorporating elements of everything from rap to punk, it’s hard to pinpoint the genre. However, the singer and multi-instrumentalist is just fine with the fact it’s difficult to pigeonhole his sound.

“I don’t really like to describe my music,” he tells New Times. “I think the genre varies from project to project, and the only through factor is my voice.”

Born in California and his formative years spent in the Chicago suburbs, NnamdÁ¯ grew up with music constantly surrounding him.

“My dad played guitar around the house all the time, and at church, we were all singing,” he explains. “I started playing piano and drums in the fifth grade, and then I started getting obsessed with finding weird musical things. The progression started with Radio Disney and hip-hop and alternative, and then I started watching YouTube videos, which led me to all these other genres.”

In college, he studied electrical engineering, not music, and dropped out twice before he finally received his degree.

“I was offered to tour, and my heart was never really into school,” NnamdÁ¯ admits. “I finally went back and finished, but I knew so many people in the music world, I knew that’s where I’d end up.”

Over the last decade, NnamdÁ¯ has immersed himself in his music. Though he’s recorded around 15 albums, only five are available on streaming services.

“I’ve always recorded any idea I had,” adding that he archived some of those musical ideas away as a means of quality control. “When I started out, I was experimenting using a karaoke mic plugged into a computer. I didn’t know anything about mixing. What I took down isn’t how I want to present myself. The true nerds know where to find it. Not all music needs to be commodified.”

He considers his latest album, Please Have a Seat, among his best work. Critics also seem to agree. In writing about the record, Paste‘s Candace McDuffie noted, “NnamdÁ¯’s imagination continues to push boundaries visually and sonically. He is still growing and relishing in unfettered exploration, which can be equal parts thrilling and terrifying.” And Nina Corcoran of Pitchfork calls Please Have a Seat “the best introduction to his catalogue for the uninitiated listener.”

“The new stuff is the best place to start with me,” NnamdÁ¯ insists. “It’s closer to what you can expect from me in the future. This, to me, is a pop album even if it’s a bit artier than what’s on the Top 40.”

The record’s central theme “is being able to be present in the moment, have clarity in the situation, and not let the nonstop hustle [and] bustle overshadow the moment. It’s about being able to sit down and think.”

The album’s title has a second message besides encouraging a slower pace of life. “It’s also me telling other people to have a seat so I can share what I think and who I am,” he adds.

As he’s done for all his past releases, NnamdÁ¯ recorded Please Have a Seat at his home studio. “It was clutch having a studio the last few years when everything shut down,” he asserts.

That do-it-yourself attitude also led NnamdÁ¯ to release the album on his label, Sooper Records, which he cofounded alongside two friends. “We’re all friends, and we put out music that’s mostly Chicago-based. There are sounds the three of us all like and can support,” he says. “We want passionate people who love making art.”

NnamdÁ¯’s current tour marks the first time he will perform in Miami. According to the musician, newcomers can expect a good time and encourages everyone to arrive early to see opener Big Baby Scumbag, whose music he describes as “heavy rap shit,” perform.

NnamdÁ¯’s put a lot of time into his live set, which features his vocals accompanied by guitar, bass, drums, and the occasional backing track. For him, a good live show depends on plenty of preparation and knowing when to let go.

“You don’t have control over every factor,” he says. “You practice, and then the rest is up to the universe.”

NnamdÁ¯. With Big Baby Scumbag. 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 22, at Gramps, 176 NW 24th St., Miami; gramps.com. Tickets cost $16 via eventbrite.com.