Label: House Anxiety / Ourness
Released: 5th March 2021
Having sold-out shows across the country with Sampa the Great and gaining attention from none other than Sir Elton John, Genesis Owusu’s long-awaited debut album arrives as a daring declaration, an honest documentation of the black experience, transgressing genre every step of the way.
The album is layered and carefully nuanced, filled with zany samples, raps and quips that are both as humorous as they are eloquent. Take the upbeat and feel-good experimental electronica of ‘On The Move!’ that sets the tone of the record, or the manic and poetic ‘The Other Black Dog’ that goes speeding at a million miles per hour.
Easing off the accelerator, sensual laid back grooves make their mark on ‘Waitin’ On Ya’, the soulful slow jam ‘Gold Chains’ and ‘I Don’t See Colour’ – the latter of which unleashes some epic spoken word moments which are the Ghanian-born, Canberra-based artist’s most impressive and commendable aspects of his artistry.
Though the album itself could have been cut down to at least half its size, Genesis Owusu’s first full-length is a triumphant beast that’s broken defiantly out of its cage.
