Joshua Bryant | July 9, 2026

We love when a Tiny Desk feels like a homecoming. redveil, a rapper and producer from Prince George’s County, Md., moved to Los Angeles a couple years ago to further expand his musical ambitions. He comes back to the D.C. area, home of the Desk, with an evolved sound to perform a soulful set, turning his complex beats into jazzy, full-band arrangements.

In late 2025, redveil released sankofa, which means “go back and get it” from the Akan language of Ghana — to bring wisdom from the past into the future to make positive changes. That’s the mindset of this performance. He speaks on his mortality with “time (a dream deferred)” and, on “lone star,” reflects on summers in Texas with his grandparents. There’s a desire to connect with his Caribbean roots on “history,” which jumps right into the breezy love song “brown sugar.”

As he winds down the set, redveil goes back to “campbell,” the first track from his 2020 album niagra, which he released at age 16. To close out, redveil gets on the keys for “glimpse of you,” a personal letter to his brother who lives with schizophrenia — the song crescendos into an emotional climax and on a note of hope.

SET LIST

“time (a dream deferred)”

“lone star (feat. Carolyn Malachi)”

“history”

“brown sugar”

“campbell”

“glimpse of you”

MUSICIANS

redveil: vocals, keys

Carolyn Malachi: vocals

Fred Greene: keys

Emmanuel Oke: guitar

Imran Musa: bass

Keith Butler Jr.: drums

Michael Tumi Murphy: sax

Isaac Burns: trumpet

Jada Postell: background vocals

André Lyn: background vocals

Allayna O’Quinn: background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM

Producers: Joshua Bryant, Bobby Carter

Director: Joshua Bryant

Audio Director/Mix: Josh Newell

Video Editor: Kara Frame

Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene

Audio Engineer: Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez

Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer

Photographer: Vanessa Castillo

Series Editor: Lars Gotrich

Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed

Executive Director: Sonali Mehta

Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#redveil #nprmusic #tinydesk

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