The project explores the other messages in Rihanna’s tracks.

LA-via-Detroit producer Mess Kid garnered attention last year for manipulating Rihanna’s slow-burning ‘Needed Me’ into a club track called ‘RiRi Riddim’. (It also sampled the drums from Ty Dolla $ign’s excellent E-40 collab ‘Saved’.)

He’s now revealed that its part of a bigger project called RIH-MIX, a multi-track exploration of Rihanna’s ANTI. His tracks aren’t necessarily remixes, they’re more like complete deconstructions of the work, recontextualized through Mess Kid’s party-primed lens.

“Everything [Rihanna] creates is timeless,” he tells FACT. “She’s open to collaborations with young producers and always pushes sound forward which I respect… I’m really inspired by strong, independent women in music.”

That influence, alongside heartbreak, is what prompted Mess Kid to start tinkering with Rihanna’s music. The project emphasizes the universal appeal of Rihanna’s tracks and just how ripe they are to be used or interpreted through the lens of anyone’s emotions.

“You can tell by the vibe of the project that I was going through something, kind of overcoming and realizing a lot,” he says. “I felt broken but creating these seven tracks made me feel like I got something off my chest… It started out as a hidden message to the person that broke my heart but turned out being more about me finding my true worth and becoming a better producer.”

The project, which will be available on January 23, features new version of ANTI standouts like ‘Work’ and bonus cut ‘Sex with Me’. You can download his high energy rendition of ‘Sex with Me’ below.

“I have an incredibly strong mother who gave up the world for me to have a better life here in America – we immigrated from Latvia in 1993,” he says. “I’d love to work with people like Beyoncé, Sade or Rihanna and be a part of their story in some way. I can relate to people who have struggled to get to where they’re at.”

RIH-MIX is out January 23. Hear ‘SWM’ below.

Latest

Latest



		
	
Share Tweet