Maimouna Youssef

Hip-hop artist Maimouna “Mumu Fresh” Youssef was born on March 10, 1985 in Baltimore, Maryland to Nat’aska Hasan Youssef and Elwood Farmer. She released her first album, Subversive Activity, at seventeen years old while attending Duke Ellington High School of the Arts in Washington D.C.

In 2007, Youssef was nominated for a Grammy Award for her vocal contribution to “Don’t Feel Right” by The Roots. That same year, she performed in the hip-hop documentary film Dave Chappelle’s Block Party alongside featured artists Khnum Muata “stic.man” Ibomu of dead prez, the Fugees, and Kanye West. In 2011 Youssef released her first solo EP, Black Magic Woman, followed by her full-length album,The Blooming. Its leading single, “I Got A Man,” was selected as the theme music to BET’s original series Being Mary Jane starring Gabrielle Union. Youssef launched her artist development company, MKY Entertainment Group, in 2016. The following year, she collaborated with DJ Dummy on the duo’s joint album Vintage Babies. The project included features by Common, Irvin Washington, and Malik Yusef.

Youssef was selected as a U.S. Department of State musical ambassador in 2017, traveling abroad to perform and facilitate workshops for youth addressing gender-based violence. In 2018, Youssef performed an NPR Tiny Desk concert with August Greene followed by her own solo set. She also joined Common’s Let Love tour in 2019. She began an artist residency at the Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Chicago, Illinois the same year. In 2020, she founded Muniversity Studies, an e-learning music education program, and in 2021, she released Vintage Babies II: Queen of Culture. Youssef has performed at the Black Girls Rock Awards, the Black Music Honors, SXSW, the Essence Music Festival, the National Museum of African American History & Culture Hip-Hop Block Party, and at the Apollo Theater, as well as for the Congressional Black Caucus. Her album, The Healing, was released in 2024.

Youssef served as governor of the Washington D.C. chapter of the Recording Academy and as an ambassador of the Black Music Collective.

Youssef has a son named Messiah Youssef. She resides in Mount Rainier, Maryland.

Maimouna “Mumu Fresh” Youssef was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 23, 2023.