Karriem Riggins and Madlib released YHWH is LOVE, their second album together as Jahari Massamba Unit. So far YHWH is LOVE has been praised by Pitchfork, Paste, Hypebeast, Stereogum, HotNewHipHop, and The FADER, who described the third single “Otis’ Tambourine” as an “entirely groove-based affair, with Madlib’s carefree production riffing on Riggins’s deceptively laid-back drumming. Together, they weave with remarkable precision through a pocket of their own design.” The album is out now via Law of Rhythm, a new record label founded by Riggins and music executive Jae Barber.

Karriem Riggins and Madlib were first introduced nearly 20 years ago by their late mutual friend and collaborator J Dilla, going on to collaborate on Madlib’s 2007 album Yesterdays Universe and together as Supreme Team. Jahari Massamba Unit started as a natural extension of Riggins and Madlib’s relationship and mutual appreciation for each other’s artistry. The two producers would send beats back and forth until eventually, Karriem didn’t have anything new to share. Instead he began sending raw drum loops, which were returned back to him with overlaid beds of harmonies and melodies by Madlib. This was the creation of a new body of work from the two cherished collaborators.

YHWH is LOVE will be Jahari Massamba Unit’s second record, and has been highly anticipated since their first album Pardon My French was released in 2020. Pitchfork said Pardon My French “sounds like experimental jazz and feels like a beat tape,” while Rolling Stone called it “a brand-new LP that sounds like it could have been fished out of a dusty dollar bin.”