They sound groovy, but then you dig down and lyrically, there's something a bit weightier going on underneath the surface. The album is called “Smiling With No Teeth,” which is meaning a fake smile, pretending things are okay when they're not. So to make people hear it, you'd have to sugarcoat it, make it more palatable. But when I was growing up, no one wanted to hear that. And thankfully, at this time, they’re both much less stigmatized, and you can talk about them more openly. Throughout the album, the main two themes are depression and racism. The main reason was that it was intentional, conceptually. Why is it important to you to create that contrast? Your album has a through line juxtaposing upbeat or high-energy sounds with lyrics that can get really heavy or come from a place of pain.
So as my older brother was already making music, everyone's like, ‘Oh, you're gonna do music?’ I'm like, ‘Nah, I'm gonna go be a racecar driver or something.’ They got me eventually. So earlier on, that adapted into being a contrarian and just doing everything because everyone else expected me to do the opposite. And I was still trying to figure out what that was from a young age.
Why were you resistant to getting into music?įrom a young age, coming from Ghana to Australia, for a lot of different reasons, I had adopted the outsider mentality. It’s called “Ansah Brothers.” I was like 13 or 14. And he's like, ‘Trust me, you have to write on this.’ And I was going to a public bathroom and the beat came on the mp3 player, and it just struck. And he was giving me his beats on this really little ratty mp3 player. So for a long time, I was like, ‘No, I'm not going to do music.’īut he had hijacked our family’s study and turned it into his own personal studio. And I was very young, just trying to find my own path. But the long answer to that is my older brother was a producer.
Genesis Owusu: The short answer is, you know when you get into the shower, sometimes your best thoughts come out? My favorite singing wasn't in the shower. KCRW: If I understand correctly, did you write your first rap in the bathroom? Why in the bathroom? Do you remember how that rap went? More: Hip-hop breakthrough Genesis Owusu on racism, depression, and ‘Smiling With No Teeth’ Owusu is an artist’s artist, whose music confronts depression, racism, and the self, cast across a dizzying-yet-cohesive array of genres - gritty techno, punk, retro soul, and modern R&B among them - that has taken artists like Prince, Grace Jones, and Bowie entire careers to achieve.īefore descending upon the den of delightful havoc formerly known as Anne’s living room, Owusu sat down with Morning Becomes Eclectic hosts Novena Carmel and Anthony Valadez to reflect on his whirlwind past year, creative identity, and finding lyrical inspiration in the bathroom.Ĭheck it all out, including bonus interview content and photos, Live from Anne’s Living Room, below (no floors were broken in the making of this session). In addition to his presence across KCRW’s Best Of 2021 lists, the 24-year-old artist born Kofi Owusu-Ansah has been racking up the accolades, taking home four trophies at the 2021 ARIA Music Awards - the Aussie equivalent of the Grammys - including Album of the Year, making him the first Black artist to do so, and landing on President Obama’s annual year-end Spotify playlist for his song “ Gold Chains.”īut don’t let the glitz fool you. The night before, Ghanian-Australian singer played to a sold-out crowd at the Roxy, bringing the breakneck catharsis of his acclaimed 2021 debut LP “ Smiling With No Teeth” to an LA crowd as part of his first US tour. So when we suggested winging it in the living room, everyone was game - Owusu helped move the furniture himself.Ĭonsider it a victory lap. literally broke the floor of Sydney’s Enmore Theatre two songs into their raucous set, only to triumphantly return four days later to finish the job for a sold-out crowd. And it wasn’t his first run-in with a little improvised chaos. Or in our case, as when experimental polymath vocalist Genesis Owusu was slated to play Anne’s Backyard this spring, turn the kitchen into a sound booth, send someone to Home Depot to grab a couple spotlights, shove the dining table out of the way, and start rolling.Īfter all, Owusu and his balaclava-clad posse of backup dancers had traveled all the way from Australia. What do you do when the neighbors call the cops on your backyard show? Don’t get mad get creative.