We firmly believe that Ghanaian-Australian artist Genesis Owusu should be a household name, and with the release of his third album, REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE, we think it’s only a matter of time before his undeniable talents make that a reality.
He has a groundbreaking sound that refuses to fit neatly into any category, existing effortlessly somewhere between hip-hop, alt-pop and funk in a place that always feels authentic, straight from Genesis’s heart and mind. The new album’s 13 tracks, in particular, are driven and dynamic with a sense of unstoppable movement as he laments the hatred and greed growing in the world but refuses to be brought down by it, instead deciding to fight back, rebel against the evil in the world and spread community and togetherness instead—and urging listeners to do the same. Truly, no one is doing it like Genesis Owusu, and with a North American tour coming this fall, it’s the perfect time to become a fan. We had the pleasure of hopping on a Zoom call with Genesis ahead of today’s release to talk about the album and so much more. Read our full interview with him below.
Sweety High: REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE is a pretty bold title. What does it mean to you, and what was the concept for this project?
Genesis Owusu: I feel like in the past few years we’ve seen a rise of greed and hatred and far-right ideology kind of becoming “cool” again. It seemed to happen all across the world at the same time. It was like a huge wave or a plague. That to me, is the “worldwide scourge.” The name Redstar Wu sounded cinematic, and the whole title, REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE, felt like a comic book title or something.
I’m from Ghana, and the symbol of Ghana is the black star. But as an artist, I’ve always resonated with the color red. It feels powerful. It feels bold. It feels rebellious. And when I started making music, I was a huge fan of Prince. I was like, if Prince can have a color—he was purple—I’ll be red.
(REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE via OURNESS)
SH: How long has has the process of making this album been? Do you feel like the timing feels any more significant than it did when you were putting it together?
GO: I pretty much wrote it all from the start to the end of 2024. I was a bit worried that it wouldn’t be relevant by the time it came out. It’s almost sad that it is still relevant. But I thought it was important to reflect the times that that we were all living in. That was my main motive making this album.
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SH: There’s plenty of darkness as well as hope in the album. What kinds of feelings do you hope fans take away from it?
GO: Like I said, it’s an album reflecting the times, but I don’t want it to be a doom and gloom album. The tempos and beats are energetic. There’s a lot of electricity in it, and I want listeners to feel energized when they hear it. I want it to lay the land of what we’re going through, but make people feel energized to do something about it, or speak about it, or just step outside and be able to feel like they have a soundtrack to face the world. So much of it is not only about the events of the world, but also about reconnecting with people, community, maybe people that walk different life paths to you, recognizing commonality between one another. I hope it’s the soundtrack to community, the soundtrack to rebellion. I hope it puts a battery in people’s backs.
SH: You also recently released the single “Stampede,” which really carries that message prevalently. How did the song come about? Can you also tell us about shooting its music video?
GO: The whole album was written in a church in Wales. My friend fell in love with a Welsh woman and moved to Wales and then he bought a church and then made it into his house/studio. I went to visit him over the course of a few weeks and we made this whole album together.
As for the visuals, like I said, I’m Ghanaian, and my parents moved back to Ghana to retire last year. I was going back to visit them and my team was like, hey, why don’t you shoot some music videos while you’re over there? It was a really beautiful time for me because I hadn’t been back in 11 years. It was my first time back as an adult, and I met all of these great Ghanaian creatives my age. It was my first time seeing the country with adult eyes.
I just wanted to showcase a bunch of the different cool subcultures that were going on in the country at the time. When a lot of people think of Ghana, they probably don’t imagine bike riders and horse riding on the beach and stuff like that. It was a cool opportunity to showcase what it’s really like over there to a lot of my fans and listeners residing in Western countries. It was really sick. We had a bunch of horse riders, a bike riding gang from from the local neighborhood spinning wheelies around the block, with all the neighborhood kids sitting there for the whole day cheering on the crew. It was really great.
SH: How would you describe your sound and genre? Do you even try?
GO: I don’t try to describe it at all. I just make it and I put it out. If other people want to describe it, that’s fine. I’m always interested to see how other people describe it, to be honest, because I don’t know how to.
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SH: Who would you say are the biggest influences in your music?
GO: I’ve been such a huge consumer of music and media in general since I was young, to the point where now when I’m in the studio, I don’t really reference anything. It’s all just been stored from a lifetime of media consumption. I think my greatest inspiration is probably like André 3000 in the way that he was able to balance being extremely weird with being extremely good at what he does. He’s so good that no one can really dispute what he does, no matter how weird it is. I think that’s the ultimate goal. Apart from that, I take inspiration from film, and some of my greatest inspirations for my music are from video games and from films and from art pieces that I’ve seen in galleries across the world. It’s like I’m a big sponge and I let it all out in the studio.
(Photo credit: Isaac Brown)
SH: How did the collaborations with Duckwrth and Ladyhawke on this album come about? What was it like working with them?
GO: It was really fun. Ladyhawke is an artist from New Zealand and she just happened to be in Australia at the time that I was recording. She had some super cool songs back when I was growing up, and I thought it would be a really cool experience. She was a fan of my stuff, which was great. We got in and we recorded a few tracks together. But “FALLING BOTH WAYS” was definitely my favorite one. It was so cool. She’s really cool, really a chill person.
And Duckwrth was a similar experience. He had just released his album, but I hadn’t followed him on Instagram, so I went and followed him, and then he followed me back and he DM’ed me. He’s like, “Man, I’ve been a fan for ages” and I’m like, “Man, I’ve been a fan for ages.” I just sent him some tracks and he came back super quick, slid on that track, did an incredible job. It was a great experience.
SH: Do you have a favorite song on the album?
GO: My favorite song changes every day, honestly. But those tracks are among my consistent rotation of favorites. “LIFE KEEPS GOING” is another big favorite of mine. I think that track is crazy. Probably “FALLING BOTH WAYS” with Ladyhawke, “LIFE KEEPS GOING” or “STAMPEDE” fight for my top spots.
SH: How do you feel that you’ve evolved as an artist and a human being since STRUGGLER? How does that come through with this album?
GO: When it comes to my evolution as an artist, it feels like from the start, when I was a child, I’ve known who I’m supposed to be. Who I’m supposed to be is boundaryless and my limitations are non-existent. My capacity to do things is boundaryless. I feel like through every stage of my life, it’s not necessarily been taking new paths, but showing me what I already knew from the start, which may have been clouded by self-doubt. Every stage in the path has just reinforced what I’ve already known since I was a child.
It’s like the more I keep going, the more I become myself, the more authentic the sounds are, the more I’m not scared to do some crazy stuff. I feel like this album is probably the purest expression of myself that exists at the moment. This is the boldest album, this is the coolest album, the most eccentric album. As life goes on, it just reinforces more and more who I am and who I’m supposed to be.
You can listen to the album in full here:
For even more from the artists who’ve been commanding our attention, click HERE to read our interview with Paris WYA on her EP, MANNEQUIN.
