Dazed Unpacks: the compilation album that became Death Grips’ unlikely muse

In 2012, Death Grips redefined the boundaries of hip-hop and delivered The Money Store, a trailblazing raw, chaotic, and genre-blending album that is considered to be their most successful, bridging punk, electronic music, and hip-hop.

One easter egg that nearly slipped through the cracks is that the group sampled various tracks from Music from Saharan Cellphones—a compilation album released by the Portland-based label Sahel Sounds, of music collected from memory cards across Western and Sub-Saharan Africa, offering a rare glimpse into the region’s musical landscape. But how did these seemingly disparate entities find each other and create arguably the most fascinating blend in alternative music?

Christopher Kirkley, the founder of Sahel Sounds, first ventured to West Africa in 2008 to learn more about the Malian music soundscape. “I heard some recordings and was captivated by the sound and style—and perhaps by the mystery?” he recalls.

Before YouTube and Spotify, Bluetooth was the quickest way to share and transfer music. Through informal cellphone networks, Kirkley began collecting music from the region in Algeria, Morocco, Niger, Mali,Mauritania, and the Ivory Coast. “Everyone around me was trading music, so I did the same. I found a small, old laptop, went to a public corner in town, and offered to trade music with people. They’d give me their songs, and I’d load them up with music I’d found.”

These tracks represented the frontier of self-produced music in the region—rough, raw, and innovative, often made with autotune, home studios, and software like Fruity Loops. “I got to see firsthand the youth culture of the time,” says Kirkley.

So how did Death Grips get their hands on Music From Saharan Cellphones? Kirkley recalls that at the start of his career, he was handing out Sahel Sounds mixtapes on the streets of Portland, and this is most likely how the band came across the record. This incredibly analog method of sharing music only adds to the charm of this unlikely marriage.

Kirkley was unaware of Death Grips’ intention to sample until after the release of The Money Store. Still, he’s happy with the added exposure, and officially released the album online afterwards.“It did turn a lot of people on to the album once we gave it an official release, and hopefully, help people become aware of these underground music scenes in the Sahel.”

Kirkley has always been committed to crediting the artists and ensuring fair compensation. In 2011, Sahel Sounds worked to track down the artists featured on the compilation for collaboration on commercial projects. To this day, the label gives 50% of its profits to musicians, including famous Sahelian artists like Mdou Moctar, Les Filles de Illighadad, and Mamman Sani. Mdou Moctar, a Tuareg guitarist known for his intense desert rock style, gained global acclaim in part through the label, which has helped bring wider appreciation to Sahelian musical traditions.

This mission comes with its challenges, Kirkley recalls the difficulty at the time, saying: “Not everyone was on the internet. I had to do crazy things—like figure out the original accent someone was speaking in and send hundreds of Facebook messages to people from that town who had guitars in their profile pictures. I’d also do screen grabs of YouTube videos to find phone numbers written on speakers, then call them. A lot of people didn’t believe me when I called. I spent years trying to track down Mdou Moctar. When I finally did, he thought I was a cousin playing a prank on him.”

Taking a step back to observe how an alternative, electronic hip-hip group like Death Grips end up sampling artists like Yeli Fuzzo from Mali to create a song like “Fuck That” makes you understand why people resonate so much with both of these albums. Kirley’s drive and determination to bring attention to the vibrant sounds of West Africa and pay the artists their dues is crucial to decolonizing the music world. Death Grips’ commitment to pushing boundaries and staying authentic, musically and culturally, has helped propel Sahel Sounds and every artist Kirkley has platformed. Although Death Grips have not officially credited any of the tracks used, Kirkley does believe it helped grow both the popularity and the mystique of the label and the artists.