wSerie
TV Shows
NPR Tiny Desk Concerts
Season 11
Episode 102

Smif-N-Wessun

September 17, 2018

0.0%

NPR Tiny Desk Concerts - S11 - E102

Brooklyn-bred hip-hop duo Smif-N-Wessun – consisting of partners in rhyme, Steele and Tek – illuminated the Tiny Desk with their signature, 80-proof poetry: straight, no chaser.

Tweet! Telegram Facebook Pinterest

NPR Tiny Desk Concerts: Season 11 - 77 Episode s

11x52 - GZA & The Soul Rebels
May 2, 2018
Most rap fans would name RZA as the head of the Wu-Tang Clan. But Wu purists know that GZA, or The Genius, is the crew's unspoken elder statesman.
11x53 - Darlingside
May 4, 2018
Even if the world came to an end, there's still beauty and hope in all of us and in song. That about sums up the wistful mystery that is the music of Darlingside.
11x54 - Gordi
May 7, 2018
In three songs from Reservoir, Gordi keeps her voice both unadorned and centered within warm, cool arrangements that include piano, guitar, pedal steel, a harmonium named Barbara, and more.
11x55 - Bela Fleck And Abigail Washburn
May 11, 2018
Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn are two American musical treasures. This husband-and-wife banjo duo write original tunes steeped in the roots of folk music.
11x56 - Naia Izumi
May 14, 2018
The winner of this year's Tiny Desk Contest makes his official debut behind the desk.
11x57 - Khruangbin
May 16, 2018
This trio from Houston, Texas makes trance-inducing music heavily inspired by 1960s and '70s funk and soul from, of all places, Thailand.
11x58 - Partner
May 18, 2018
The dream of the '90s is alive in this Canadian rock band.
11x59 - The Band's Visit
May 21, 2018
Tony Shalhoub, Katrina Lenk and the cast of the Tony-nominated play The Band's Visit marked the first Broadway performance at the Tiny Desk.
11x60 - Juanes & Mon Laferte
May 23, 2018
The Colombian pop star and Chilean rising star brought their duet tour to the Tiny Desk.
11x61 - Ill Camille
May 25, 2018
The Los Angeles rapper and Kendrick Lamar collaborator performed four songs from her excellent album, Heirloom.
11x62 - Third Coast Percussion
May 29, 2018
Watch the Chicago-based ensemble conjure otherworldly sounds from steel pipes, tuned cowbells and a bowl that sings.
11x63 - Trouble Funk
May 30, 2018
We squeezed 12 go-go musicians behind the Tiny Desk. Watch what ensued.
11x64 - Tom Misch
June 1, 2018
This 22-year-old Brit has soul for days.
11x65 - Daniel Caesar
June 4, 2018
Watch the R&B star-in-the-making perform three songs, including a guest appearance by H.E.R.
11x66 - Grace VanderWaal
June 6, 2018
The 14-year-old singer who signed to Columbia after winning America's Got Talent, dazzles the Tiny Desk with her breathtaking voice.
11x67 - MILCK
June 8, 2018
The one-woman riot who made headlines during the inaugural Women's March On Washington visits the Tiny Desk.
11x68 - Jorja Smith
June 11, 2018
Watch the rising U.K. star perform intimate renditions of "Blue Lights," "On My Mind" and "Teenage Fantasy" with a full band.
11x69 - GoldLink
June 13, 2018
The D.C. rapper brought quite the crew to his Tiny Desk performance.
11x70 - Yissy García & Bandancha
June 15, 2018
Come for one of Havana's most talented acts. Stay for García's incredible mohawk.
11x71 - Khalid
June 18, 2018
Watch the 20-year-old star perform acoustic versions of "Location," "Saved" and "Young Dumb & Broke."
11x72 - The Messthetics
June 20, 2018
The bassist and drummer from D.C.'s pioneering punk band Fugazi join guitarist Anthony Pirog for a set of thrilling, sometimes loud and frenetic instrumentals.
11x73 - From The Top
June 22, 2018
A handful of teenagers, and a 12-year-old violinist, from the radio show From the Top, give sparkling performances, proving there's a bright future for classical music.
11x74 - Rakim
June 25, 2018
Watch the New York rap icon perform "Paid In Full" and "Know The Ledge," as well as a new song for Marvel's Luke Cage, at the Tiny Desk.
11x75 - Dave Matthews
June 27, 2018
The star sheds his band for a warm, winning, utterly game, happily overstuffed five-song performance of songs from across his long career.
11x76 - Golden Dawn Arkestra
June 29, 2018
Join the "Children of the Sun" - or sit back and enjoy the spectacle - in this Tiny Desk experience.
11x77 - PJ Morton
July 2, 2018
New Orleans' native son brought his musical Gumbo — and a 10-piece orchestra — to the Tiny Desk for some well-seasoned soul and a lesson in creative freedom.
11x78 - Frédéric Yonnet With Special Guest Dave Chappelle
July 9, 2018
Yonnet is a magician on the harmonica. You'll see why he's performed with Stevie Wonder, Prince and Ed Sheeran.
11x79 - Rev. Sekou And The Seal Breakers
July 10, 2018
Rev. Sekou and the Seal Breakers gave one of the most rousing Tiny Desks we've ever had, opening with one question: "Do you want to get free?"
11x80 - Mumu Fresh Feat. Black Thought & DJ Dummy
July 11, 2018
Occasionally a new voice emerges so rich in experience that the only way to describe it is old soul.
11x81 - The Midnight Hour
July 18, 2018
A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad and composer Adrian Younge brought their Luke Cage-inspired collaboration to the Tiny Desk.
11x82 - Ólafur Arnalds
July 19, 2018
The Icelandic composer is joined by two "ghost" pianists, making mysterious and memorable music at the Tiny Desk.
11x83 - The King's Singers
July 23, 2018
The storied vocal ensemble brings close harmony singing to a diverse set list that includes a Beatles tune and a bawdy madrigal from the 1500s.
11x84 - Lalah Hathaway
July 25, 2018
The veteran singer showcases her soaring powerfully expressive voice in a performance that bridges several generations of classic soul.
11x85 - Flasher
July 30, 2018
The precise serrations of Washington, D.C. band Flasher get softened for a visit to the Tiny Desk — their vocals, normally side-by-side rushing electric instruments, get the center stage treatment.
11x86 - The Del McCoury Band
August 1, 2018
Del McCoury has been performing, and updating, his take on bluegrass for some 60 years. At the Tiny Desk, he brought three traveling songs and some good yarns to share from his ample time on the road.
11x87 - Haley Heynderickx
August 3, 2018
One of our favorite new artists of 2018 visits the Tiny Desk.
11x88 - Mac Miller
August 6, 2018
Mac Miller reflects on his journey's peaks and valleys in a boisterous set of songs from Swimming, featuring special guest Thundercat on "What's the Use?"
11x89 - DAWN
August 10, 2018
DAWN has a breathless enthusiasm for shape-shifting pop music. She strips three songs to just the essentials, illuminating the impeccable songwriting behind her wild combination of sounds.
11x90 - Tower Of Power
August 13, 2018
Even from its beginnings in late-'60s Oakland, the band has always stood out. Fifty years later, its devotion to classic horn-driven soul remains unmatched, its passion and precision unchanged.
11x91 - Erykah Badu
August 15, 2018
The singer's performance at the Tiny Desk was an almost spiritual experience, leaving many at the NPR Music offices in awe.
11x92 - Yo-Yo Ma
August 17, 2018
Watch the 19-time Grammy winner return to his lifelong passion for J.S. Bach, playing music from the Cello Suites and offering advice on the art of incremental learning.
11x93 - Camp Cope
August 22, 2018
The Australian band uses tiny moments of introspection to illuminate life's bewildering, terrifying, isolating aspects — especially as they apply to women.
11x94 - Dermot Kennedy
August 24, 2018
Backed for the first time ever by members of the Howard Gospel Choir, the Irish singer-songwriter shows off a voice built to fill stadiums in more ways than one.
11x95 - T.I.
August 27, 2018
In the fifteen years since he released Trap Muzik, Tip Harris has reinvented himself a thousand times over. But the stories he recounts from that era make his Tiny Desk a memorable one.
11x96 - Tech N9ne Feat. Krizz Kaliko
August 29, 2018
Two of Kansas City's finest — and indie hip-hop's trailblazers — deliver a dose of Strange Music.
11x97 - George Li
August 31, 2018
Watch the young Harvard grad dispatch some of the most "knuckle-busting" piano repertoire with uncommon panache and precision.
11x98 - Kalbells
September 5, 2018
The band makes life-affirming music that singer Kalmia Traver created over the past few years, filled with the triumph of being cancer free.
11x99 - Jupiter & Okwess
September 7, 2018
Jupiter Bokondji and his band Okwess play music that feels both African and American, with Jupiter's early musical tastes inspired by The Jackson 5, James Brown and the sounds of Motown.
11x100 - Hobo Johnson
September 12, 2018
While this Sacramento, Calif. band didn't win this year's Tiny Desk contest, their video entry, for the song "Peach Scones," was among the more memorable we've ever seen.
11x101 - GoGo Penguin
September 14, 2018
This trio has become a reference point of their own for new school instrumentalists, a coveted achievement for any jazz group, though their appeal stretches far outside the jazz ecosystem.
11x102 - Smif-N-Wessun
September 17, 2018
Brooklyn-bred hip-hop duo Smif-N-Wessun – consisting of partners in rhyme, Steele and Tek – illuminated the Tiny Desk with their signature, 80-proof poetry: straight, no chaser.
11x103 - Julie Byrne
September 19, 2018
Julie Byrne's transporting music can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.
11x104 - Anthony Roth Costanzo
September 21, 2018
Watch the ambitious countertenor sing music that spans more than 250 years, connecting the dots between David Byrne, George Frideric Handel and Philip Glass.
11x105 - Cécile McLorin Salvant
September 25, 2018
The jazz singer, who used to be into radical feminist punk, now composes and sings beautiful jazz ballads.
11x106 - Saba
October 1, 2018
Before embarking on a tour of Australia and Asia, the Chicago native brought the squad that helped make Care For Me one of 2018's best — along with a very special guest.
11x107 - Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles
October 5, 2018
Henry and his band would have sounded right at home on Stax Records in the '70s — no small accomplishment. Watch them perform three funky, soulful jams.
11x108 - Big Boi
October 9, 2018
The OutKast star performs "So Fresh, So Clean," "The Way You Move" and his solo single "All Night" with the help of singer Sleepy Brown and an eight-member backing band.
11x109 - Café Tacvba
October 12, 2018
The pioneering Mexican band recreates the adventurous musical energy of their massive stadium shows behind Bob Boilen's desk.
11x110 - Florence + the Machine
October 16, 2018
"I'm sorry I'm shy," Florence Welch told the crowd of NPR family and friends gathered for her Tiny Desk performance. "If this was a big gig, I'd probably be climbing all over here and running around."
11x111 - Alfredo Rodríguez
October 18, 2018
The Cuban pianist thrilled the NPR office with an intense performance that was as melodic as it was rhythmic.
11x112 - Chromeo
October 19, 2018
The self-proclaimed "Funklordz" normally perform as a duo, but played with a live band for the first time at the Tiny Desk.
11x113 - Cautious Clay
October 24, 2018
The charismatic singer and saxophonist brought a group of longtime friends to play a warm, thoughtful and chill set at the Tiny Desk.
11x114 - Jim James
October 26, 2018
A single voice can send a powerful message - and that's just what Jim James did at the Tiny Desk, with just his voice and an acoustic guitar.
11x115 - Liniker e os Caramelows
October 29, 2018
Liniker e os Caramelows are from Brazil but steeped in the tradition of soul from here in the U.S. Watching this performance is to witness a spell being cast, note-by-note.
11x116 - Nicholas Payton Trio
November 2, 2018
After back-to-back performances in South Africa, Argentina, Chile and New York, Payton hit the Tiny Desk, where he dazzled the audience, simultaneously playing his trumpet and a Fender Rhodes.
11x117 - Pedro The Lion
November 5, 2018
No matter how dark or disastrous, there's always been an undercurrent of grace to the music of David Bazan. He returns to his Pedro the Lion moniker for this memorable Tiny Desk performance.
11x118 - Half Waif
November 8, 2018
The band's songs, stripped here to their essence, are particularly peaceful and calm — and sometimes chilling.
11x119 - Bernie And The Believers Feat. Essence
November 12, 2018
The story of Bernie and the Believers is the story of Bernie Dalton's diagnosis of Lou Gehrig's disease and compassionate friends making his dream come true and his songs come to life.
11x120 - Boygenius
November 16, 2018
Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers are all Tiny Desk alumae, but here they play together at NPR for the first time as boygenius, one of this year's best surprises.
11x121 - dvsn
November 19, 2018
The Toronto-based R&B duo bathed the Tiny Desk in vibrant blue, purple and orange light to make it feel more like a concert hall.
11x122 - The Innocence Mission
November 28, 2018
The Innocence Mission, ever the most careful cultivators of quiet, encouraged us to come closer, to discover the "thing beautiful enough" in the moment it's delivered.
11x123 - Joey Alexander
November 30, 2018
No one in the NPR offices could have imagined how remarkable this 15-year old pianist would be at the Tiny Desk.
11x124 - Dirty Projectors
December 4, 2018
The band takes its quirks of production, rhythm and rhyme and brilliantly arranges them to work behind the Tiny Desk.
11x125 - Wu-Tang Clan
December 5, 2018
The Clan celebrates its 25th anniversary with an old-school cipher at the Tiny Desk.
11x126 - H.E.R.
December 12, 2018
The singer stuns in her second appearance at the Tiny Desk, showcasing not only her vocal mastery, but her skills as a captivating multi-instrumentalist.
11x127 - Harold López-Nussa Trio
December 14, 2018
Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa, along with his brother Ruy on drums and bassist Gaston Joya, deliver a set of danceable jazz explorations rooted in Afro-Cuban musical traditions to the Tiny Desk.
11x128 - Amy Grant
December 17, 2018
Amy Grant maps her fabulous, four-decade career with some of her coziest and heartfelt Christmas songs, not to mention a delightful version of "Jingle Bells."

NPR Tiny Desk Concerts: All seasons

S0: Specials
19 Episode s
S1: Season 2008
10 Episode s
S2: Season 2009
30 Episode s
S3: Season 2010
60 Episode s
S4: Season 2011
83 Episode s
S5: Season 2012
77 Episode s
S6: Season 2013
68 Episode s
S7: Season 2014
85 Episode s
S8: Season 2015
84 Episode s
S9: Season 2016
91 Episode s
S10: Season 2017
98 Episode s
S11: Season 2018
128 Episode s
S12: Season 2019
111 Episode s
S13: Season 2020
179 Episode s
S14: Season 2021
137 Episode s
S15: Season 2022
124 Episode s
S16: Season 2023
128 Episode s
S17: Season 2024
86 Episode s

11x52 - GZA & The Soul Rebels

11x53 - Darlingside

11x54 - Gordi

11x55 - Bela Fleck And Abigail Washburn

11x56 - Naia Izumi

11x57 - Khruangbin

11x58 - Partner

11x59 - The Band's Visit

11x60 - Juanes & Mon Laferte

11x61 - Ill Camille

11x62 - Third Coast Percussion

11x63 - Trouble Funk

11x64 - Tom Misch

11x65 - Daniel Caesar

11x66 - Grace VanderWaal

11x67 - MILCK

11x68 - Jorja Smith

11x69 - GoldLink

11x70 - Yissy García & Bandancha

11x71 - Khalid

11x72 - The Messthetics

11x73 - From The Top

11x74 - Rakim

11x75 - Dave Matthews

11x76 - Golden Dawn Arkestra

11x77 - PJ Morton

11x78 - Frédéric Yonnet With Special Guest Dave Chappelle

11x79 - Rev. Sekou And The Seal Breakers

11x80 - Mumu Fresh Feat. Black Thought & DJ Dummy

11x81 - The Midnight Hour

11x82 - Ólafur Arnalds

11x83 - The King's Singers

11x84 - Lalah Hathaway

11x85 - Flasher

11x86 - The Del McCoury Band

11x87 - Haley Heynderickx

11x88 - Mac Miller

11x89 - DAWN

11x90 - Tower Of Power

11x91 - Erykah Badu

11x92 - Yo-Yo Ma

11x93 - Camp Cope

11x94 - Dermot Kennedy

11x95 - T.I.

11x96 - Tech N9ne Feat. Krizz Kaliko

11x97 - George Li

11x98 - Kalbells

11x99 - Jupiter & Okwess

11x100 - Hobo Johnson

11x101 - GoGo Penguin

11x102 - Smif-N-Wessun

11x103 - Julie Byrne

11x104 - Anthony Roth Costanzo

11x105 - Cécile McLorin Salvant

11x106 - Saba

11x107 - Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles

11x108 - Big Boi

11x109 - Café Tacvba

11x110 - Florence + the Machine

11x111 - Alfredo Rodríguez

11x112 - Chromeo

11x113 - Cautious Clay

11x114 - Jim James

11x115 - Liniker e os Caramelows

11x116 - Nicholas Payton Trio

11x117 - Pedro The Lion

11x118 - Half Waif

11x119 - Bernie And The Believers Feat. Essence

11x120 - Boygenius

11x121 - dvsn

11x122 - The Innocence Mission

11x123 - Joey Alexander

11x124 - Dirty Projectors

11x125 - Wu-Tang Clan

11x126 - H.E.R.

11x127 - Harold López-Nussa Trio

11x128 - Amy Grant

S0: Specials

S1: Season 2008

S2: Season 2009