Biography
Khari Mateen works as a songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from his base in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His initial significant studio contributions arrived via the Roots’ 2006 release Game Theory, where he shared production duties on the title track along with “Livin’ in a New World” and “Clock with No Hands.” He sustained that partnership on the later Roots projects Rising Down and Undun while also working alongside Joy Denalane, Jill Scott, Tye Tribbett, James Poyser’s Rebel Yell, Vivian Green, J*Davey, and the Roots offshoot Money Making Jam Boys. In 2010 he started posting modest but inventive short solo pieces online. After placements in the Sundance series Brick City a couple of years afterward, he issued the concise, atmospheric, and subtly unconventional R&B collection Wait for Sunrise on his own imprint, The Lunchroom; Soul Train later listed it among 2012’s strongest albums. The full-length Wishful Thinking arrived in 2015 and featured poet/rapper STS, who joined Mateen again for the 2018 project Better on a Sunday. Throughout this period he kept scoring films and documentaries, earning an Emmy for his work on We Could Be King, and he also recorded with Son Little, Cody Simpson, and Post Malone. Mateen further belongs to the rock band Elevator Fight, fronted by Zoë Kravitz.
Albums
Singles
