Genesis Owusu Reminds Fans to Smile and Beware of Black Dogs
Genesis Owusu in Dallas, TX on April 15, 2022
by Jess of SSIYH | Published April 17, 2022
Wait…Could This Be True…We Need Lots More Music from Genesis Owusu
On the front line of the metal bar barrier between the audience and the musical acts, there was a young man with red hair and the white wrapped gauze/bandages on his face–one can only assume all to pay tribute to Genesis Owusu’s signature bandaged face on his album cover Smiling with No Teeth. The fan not only stayed front-in-center as he grooved, danced, and shouted with the shirtless but perfectly blazer-wearing musical mega titan, but he kept the bandages on all night till curtain call. (True fandom.) Owusu made sure that the fans were hyped up during the show. He even stopped midway through a song because Dallas wasn’t bringing him the energy that he deserved–especially during his first time in the city of Dallas. (Wise move, Owusu: make Dallas earn the magic and mayhem all wrapped in a beautiful package with a red bow.) Owusu had a crew of four men who seemed to represent the ever-present “black dog” theme in his work. They were masked with black ski masks and red across the chest. In between songs, Owusu would get on the mic and say poetic messages. There certainly felt like there was a storytelling element involved in this mode of musical transitions. It would get quiet, dark, and he would speak into the mic hidden off stage. He was narrating his own show, and getting fans ready for what was to come.
In a 2021 interview on the Fantano YouTube channel, Genesis Owusu shared so much about his musical inspirations, his craft, his musical philosophy and how he got started. Owusu immigrated from Ghana with his family when he was about two and a half years old to Australia. Owusu’s musical style has a variety of sounds interwoven in, including gospel from his mother’s influences, his father’s interest in picking obscure albums by its cover (and who can blame him), and his older brother who was a fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kanye West. Although he is definitely inspired by Prince, Owusu admits in the same interview Andre 3000 was first in his influences as he is the “spiritual offspring of Prince.” It is no wonder that before his set started, one could hear “B.O.B.” by Outkast, a group Andre 3000 is a part of, blasting purposefully on the speakers.
My personal connection to Genesis Owusu’s music: I was in a really dark place. It was hard to dance, something I have done my whole life as a music nerd and lover. It was like not even Prince himself could move me into motion–or even Andre 3000: abnormal for sure, and then I heard “I Don’t Need You” by Owusu, and it was like the song forced my leg to shake a bit, and then wiggle a bit, and my hips to sway a bit. I could not help but dance to this song. To the message. To the energy. To his smile smiling back at me in his music video. It was like with a snap of his fingers and with a gold-teeth emblazoned smile, Owusu had cured my blues with his melody of beats and empowering message of moving on and moving forward.
Owusu admits that originally he was “writing his music for therapy.” His music definitely has poetry and healing properties in it. Thankfully.
Source: Fantano, Anthony “Genesis Owusu Interview,” Fantano on YouTube, March 14, 2021, link.
All photos and content created by yer girl Jess of SSIYH.
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