Music is full of anomalies, and nobody encapsulates that quite as much as papa mbye, the true definition of natural. His debut single, “IDONTSENDSEX” featuring FruitPunchLoverBoy, was not only the very first track he ever recorded, but prevails as his second most streamed song to date—yet just over three years ago he was not even thinking of making music. With artistic roots as a cartoonist and making caricatures in his local community, papa mbye became immersed in a burgeoning community of creatives, only starting to make music after meeting people in the field.
For an artist so explorative, it is only fitting that papa mbye has been exposed to a wide array of influences throughout his life. The Senegal and Gambia native, who was raised in Minnesota, grew up in the middle of two wide ranging music scenes, citing everyone from Youssou N’dour and Ndongo Lo to Frank Ocean and Michael Jackson as part of his foundation, which can be heard throughout his debut EP, MANG FI. The project was the first extensive taste of his raw yet undeniably compelling blend of just about everything you can imagine, entirely created within a year of first stepping in front of the mic.
Fast forward to today, and papa mbye is already building toward his second EP following two self-asserting singles, with the blissful electro-rock nodes of “PASSENGER” striking first before sharing the punk influenced, punchy yet vulnerable lyricism of “PIXEL.”
“My next project is about navigating many worlds and dimensions as an immigrant. It also touches on the loss I’ve experienced personally over the last few years,” he explains. “I’ve never been interested in being boxed into any one genre, it’s more about the story and the feeling behind it all. The sounds are all over the place but still fluid. It’s authentically me and my story.”
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