Synopsis
Dec. 5, 2019 | Rodney Carmichael -- The first time Raphael Saadiq played Tiny Desk, "it was really a tiny desk." "And honestly we were kinda complaining about it," Saadiq laughs, recalling that performance in 2009, back when hosting intimate little concerts behind Bob Boilen's desk was still a fledgling idea at NPR Music. "Like, we kinda didn't wanna do it," he admits in hindsight. It wasn't until the video-taped version of his set hit the Internet and began picking up views that the lightbulb went off for Saadiq, too. "It's like probably the biggest streaming I ever had, so it's kinda good to be back — not kinda good; it's really good to be back." As he tells this story, exactly one decade later, Saadiq's return to a slightly bigger Tiny Desk — to close out NPR's live-streamed Tiny Desk Fest — coincides with the biggest record of his career. Named for one of three brothers who succumbed to addiction, Jimmy Lee is his most personal, most vulnerable, most fearless work yet, and it com