GENA, the duo of Liv.e and Karriem Riggins, release their debut album The Pleasure Is Yours, via Lex Records. A kinetic amalgamation of two very distinct and spirited musical identities, Liv.e & Karriem’s debut as GENA represents the duo finding and developing a musical language together, including the previously-released singles “Circlesz”, “HOWWEFLOW”, and “Lead it Up”. Alongside the album’s release, the duo are also sharing a new music video for album cut “Douwannabwithastar!”, directed by Mackai Sharp.

 

 

Last month, the duo made their sold-out live debut in London at ICA to rave reviews, continuing a rare run of live shows in 2025 that saw them play together at Karriem’s residency at Nublu in New York City and at the Detroit Jazz Festival. Tonight, GENA are hosting a special release day show in LA tonight at DiDi.

 

 

The Pleasure Is Yours is an expertly crafted and mischievous exploration of the contours of contemporary soul, R&B and hip-hop, guided by a series of virtual sessions that pieced the album together. Karriem’s masterful percussive framework gave Liv.e the opportunity to be herself, serving as a conduit for her to find rhythms organically and imaginatively fill the spaces that Karriem built for her experimentation. The album also includes contributions from musicians like Isaiah Sharkey, James Francies and Telemakus, each complementing the duo’s budding style with their own.

“Liv.e inspires me to be boundaryless and genreless,” Riggins says of their connection. “I learn as I go, and I want people to witness all of that energy in the music. It’s also our pleasure. Making this record, I feel we’re hitting on so many different things, and this is what the world needs.” The Pleasure Is Yours is a record that lives in motion, unburdened by the outside world and harnessing musical instinct and flow as two musicians exercise their ability to carve out a new sound together that represents their collective strengths.

 

More about Liv.e:

Liv.e’s musical journey embodies the freedom of experimentation that she first showed with critically acclaimed debut album Couldn’t Wait to Tell You…. Her subsequent followup, the widely celebrated Girl in The Half Pearl marked a breakout year for Liv.e in 2023 making surprise appearances at last year’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival to join both Earl Sweatshirt and Andre 3000 on stage for their respective sets. Liv.e has continued to tinker with her place in music and has allowed her creative moniker to exist as a conduit for her ideas, most recently venturing into synthwave with her PAST FUTURE.e project released in 2024. Liv.e is currently on Earl Sweatshirt’s Live. Laugh. Love. world tour, joined by ZelooperZ and Cletus Strap, where she has been slowly teasing out GENA songs to fans’ overwhelming praise.

More about Karriem Riggins:

Detroit native Karriem Riggins has solidified himself as one of the most respected drummers and beatmakers in music today. Over the course of his career he has played with and produced for the likes of Common, Erykah Badu, KAYTRANADA, Steve Lacy, The Roots, Madlib, Paul McCartney, Norah Jones and notably formed a close kinship with the late Detroit legend J Dilla. In 2017, Riggins won an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and lyrics for his work with Common and Robert Glasper on “Letter to the Free” from Ava Duvernay’s film 13th. Most recently, Riggins reunited with Common and collaborated with James Poyser to create “Victory”, the NBA on Prime theme music for the 2025/2026 basketball season and beyond.