Hip hop star Genesis Owusu opted for wholesome soft diplomacy to introduce the loud music of his third record Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge.
When the Ghanaian-Australian artist dropped Pirate Radio, the album’s first single, last September, he wanted to introduce himself, Kofi Owusu-Ansah, to people who may or may not have heard of Genesis Owusu.
So he played Uno games and gave fans, and their family and friends, an exclusive preview at their homes of the much-anticipated new record and songs that explore the real-life consequences of hate and division sown by anti-immigration cultural wars amplified by politicians and via social media.
His songs also reaffirm the unifying ideal that “we’re all in this together.” “The reason why it was important for me to just meet with people face-to-face is because I feel like the reason that we’re in this position right now is because of the exact opposite, because we’re not seeing people face-to-face, we are seeing caricatures of people through seven-second TikTok videos,” he says.
“And I want to see a change to that.
But how can I just whine and sit on the internet saying I want to see it changed?
“It starts with seeing the humanity, and people face-to-face … and I’m not a hierarchical person, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m the big artist and you’re the fan.’ “I’ll come to your house and show you my music.
Like, sure, your auntie wants to set up a cup of tea for me, yeah, let’s do it.
The barriers have always been fictitious.” Owusu was two years old when his parents Elliott and Doris brought him and his older brother Kojo to Australia from Ghana in 2000 and settled in Canberra.
His father stacked supermarket shelves and his mother worked as a cleaner before they built careers as a probations officer and high school teacher.
His brother, who is the hip hop artist Citizen Kay, helped inspire the teen poet to become a songwriter.
Over the past six years, hundreds of thousands of fans in Australia and internationally (from President Barack Obama to late night TV host Stephen Colbert) have become champions of the game-changing songs of his 2021 debut record Smiling With No Teeth, and second album Struggler in 2023.
Others who aren’t aware of his trophy cabinet of awards – including ARIA Album of the Year with each of his records – will have unknowingly heard his songs; his 2022 track Get Inspired is everywhere courtesy of a fried chicken advertisement.
So the 28-year-old sonic architect has a considerable audience via streaming, his social media channels and incendiary, transformative gigs – he theatrically constructs a different live character for his tours – for new songs about resilience and hope in a divided world.
And for why immigrants are not to blame for the fact we’re all paying “29.99 for some shit that used to be 10 dollars max” as he says in the trailer for the upcoming documentary about the new record.
He has even put his money where his message is – fans who pre-ordered the album have the chance to win $500 to offset fuel or commute costs in his “I’ll Pay Your Way” initiative.
“Through music, you can grab the ear of anyone, whether they agree with your politics or they agree with the way you walk through life; that beat will hit them first before any of that other stuff will hit, so music is the great uniter in that sense,” he says.
“From an actual lyrical content perspective, I think the grand mission was really, we are all in this together and yes, there are things that you on this other side of the spectrum say that enrages me and frustrates me, that gets me riled up, but at the same time, just like you, my groceries have gone up, my rent prices have gone up as well.
“Regardless of what you think about these superficial culture wars, there are things that are pressing for both of us and if we can build a coalition around the things that really matter to the both of us, then we can make some actual meaningful progressive change.” The stream of singles introducing the new record – Pirate Radio, Death Cult Zombie, Stampede and Life keeps Going – underscores the inventiveness of this distinctive artist.
From Brit rock to funk, gospel soul to Ghanaian Highlife music, Owusu’s heady hip hop brew is unlike anything else coming out of Australia right now.
But like most songwriters, it is also the result of the music he grew up with during his Canberra childhood and refuelled by his recent return to Ghana to visit family and film music videos.
“Everyone in my house loved music but they all loved completely different styles of music,” he says.
“So my brother was really into Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Nirvana.
“My mum was the leader of a church’s gospel choir.
Dad was just into anything with an interesting album cover.
Like, that’s literally how he bought his albums, if it had a cool album cover.
“We immigrated from Ghana, so I heard a lot of Ghanaian Highlife music and then I walk outside and it’s Australian pub rock, ACDC, stuff like that.
“So I feel like I was kind of the converging point for all of these different sounds and like a sponge, I just soaked them all in.
And I get bored very easily.” As Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge drops this week ahead of a national tour, Owusu shares the one thing he won’t do in his quest to unite community, one fan at a time.
“I never let other people win (Uno), never.
I’m undefeated.” Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge is out now.
For all tour dates and tickets, frontiertouring.com/genesisowusu
Genesis Owusu, Redstar Wu, music news, hip hop, Australian music, fan engagement, album release