M.Sayyid / Maurice Greene
Follow The Sun – Prohibited Records
By Emmanuel Dosda
M.Sayyid has always refused to stay in one lane. Whether he’s making boundary-pushing hip-hop, painting, drawing, or writing, he consistently sidesteps convention while expanding the limits of each discipline. Now, for the first time, he’s bringing all of those worlds together in a book that reflects his many identities. Best known as a founding member of the legendary New York experimental hip-hop group Antipop Consortium—the pioneering outfit that brought avant-garde rap into the orbit of Warp Records—Maurice Greene has created a hybrid art object that weaves together visual art, text, and music. The project traces a personal geography stretching from New York City to California and Paris, where, as he puts it, he’s experienced everything: “The galleries, the grand hotels, the struggles…” Accompanied by an original soundtrack accessible via QR code or hyperlink, *Follow The Sun* is meant to be experienced with every sense.
Signed over the years to 75 Ark, Big Dada, and Warp, Antipop Consortium helped redefine the possibilities of hip-hop in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their futuristic blend of electronic production, free-form lyricism, and fearless experimentation earned them a singular place in contemporary music. After the group’s groundbreaking run—and following a period marked by financial hardship—M.Sayyid relocated to France roughly a decade ago. There, he immersed himself in language and culture, eventually becoming a teacher, mentor, and solo artist, moving effortlessly between disciplines with the quick reflexes of a ping-pong rally played in a retro-futuristic dreamscape.
His solo work has continued to push forward. *Error Tape 1* and *Error Tape 2* are twin mixtapes fueled by adrenaline, digital artifacts, and restless invention. His unmistakable rapid-fire delivery glides across constantly shifting electronic landscapes, his voice moving from crystal-clear articulation to preacher-like gravity before soaring unexpectedly into falsetto. The music races forward with the velocity of the cars he once drove professionally as a chauffeur. Simultaneously melodic and mechanical, earthly and transcendent, his compositions seem to hover just beyond reach—a direction he embraced with complete intention.
Physical discipline, meditation, and spirituality remain central to his creative practice. Forever in search of new artistic and human experiences, M.Sayyid approaches each project with curiosity rather than certainty. “I’m never afraid to take the leap,” he says.
That journey now extends fully into visual art. Inspired equally by Jean-Michel Basquiat and the punk fanzines that shaped his youth, Greene has developed a painterly language where figuration and abstraction continually collide. His images feel much like his music: instinctive, layered, kinetic, and impossible to pin down.
Born in Harlem, Maurice Greene grew up in a household where art and political activism were part of everyday conversation. His father, Bill Greene—a writer and civil rights activist—kept him connected to the pulse of New York City. His mother, Gwendolyn Greene, introduced him to classical music and gospel, while the artistic achievements of his aunt, celebrated artist Faith Ringgold, expanded his understanding of what creative practice could become. He likes to borrow an Olympic metaphor.”The torch was handed to me. Now it’s my turn to pass it on.”
As a teenager, Greene spent summers in San Jose, immersed in Northern California’s skateboarding and BMX culture, while downtown Manhattan introduced him to the explosive hardcore, punk, and hip-hop scenes of the 1980s. Those formative experiences continue to resonate in his work, alongside the expressionism of Julian Schnabel and the influence of Art Brut and the COBRA movement.
*Follow The Sun* invites readers on what Greene describes as an “orbital journey”—at once primitive and futuristic. Across its pages, galaxies are carved by tangled highways, machines hurtle toward inevitable collisions beneath the cold glare of headlights, and ravenous creatures devour everything in their path. Somewhere between Belleville and Harlem, objects, memories, and symbols continuously mutate into one another: “The flame. The blade. The propane.”
The speed bumps he asks us to ride become launch ramps, our hands gripping the handlebars of an old BMX as we head toward his own singular planet.
One warning before takeoff:
“It’ll blow your mind.”
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We represent M.Sayyid (Antipop Consortium) for booking throughout France and Europe.
Contact: kingboo @ prohibitedrecords.com
Alongside *Follow The Sun*, produced this year by Prohibited Records, M.Sayyid’s solo releases and mixtapes are available through Handsmade Collective (Oakland, California) and via his Bandcamp page.
