The first time seven-time ARIA award winner Genesis Owusu heard The Rolling Stones was as a kid playing popular video game Guitar Hero III.
asserted
Owusu → hear → Hero
"It's how music transports itself through the generations," Owusu explains on Take 5 with Zan Rowe.
asserted
Owusu → transport → Rowe
Now 28, Owusu has covered the Stones' Paint It Black on triple j Like A Version.
asserted
Owusu → cover → Version
The born performer's genre-defying music has cemented him among Australia's most exciting boundary pushers with an explosive collision of rap, post-punk, soul, funk, pop and R&B.
"So much of my life and artistry comes from fusion," he says.
asserted
he → bear → fusion
"My biggest experience of that … was this video game I played when I was five years old called Jet Set Radio Future."
asserted
I → play → that
Released in 2000, the Sega title puts you in control of a gang of rollerblading graffiti artists combating a mega-corporation who rules futuristic Tokyo as a police state.
asserted
who → release → state
"Freedom of expression is outlawed, and you guys are the last bastion of resistance," Owusu explains.
asserted
Owusu → outlaw → resistance
Hitting play was "like a gust of wind that blew all my hair back".
asserted
that → hit → hair
"It was the music, the visuals, the themes, all mixed together in this Pandora's box."
asserted
It → mix → box
For Owusu and Jet Set Radio Future, "it's all sound-tracked by this pirate radio station hosted by DJ Professor K", introducing him to cult acts like Bis, Bran Van 3000, and Cibo Matto.
asserted
it → track → Bis
"It's super abrasive [and] taught me ugly was also to be appreciated.
asserted
ugly → teach → me
I think of food: sour and bitter … can be used to create complex emotions and flavours.
asserted
sour → think → emotions
I feel the same way in music, ugly and abrasive can be used just as powerfully as sweet and lovely.
asserted
ugly → feel → music
Jet Set Radio Future's lingering influence extends to Owusu's latest album, Red Star Wu & The Worldwide Scourge, which opens with a track titled Pirate Radio that skewers Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the degrading effects of "blue check mania".
asserted
that → linger → mania
Elsewhere, he takes aim at the manosphere, bible-bashing politicians and a paranoid, fragmented world growing apathetic to global atrocities in favour of absurdities served up in algorithms.
asserted
he → take → algorithms
The political bent sharpens Owusu's lyrics, bolder and more urgent than the metaphors of his first two albums, where black dogs symbolised racism and depression, or an indestructible roach represented resilience.
asserted
roach → sharpen → resilience
"My music has been political from the jump," Owusu says.
asserted
Owusu → say → jump
"A lot of my early music, there was still the veil of creative writing, make everything a metaphor and dress it up.
"
asserted
everything → be → it
But in this day and age … we don't have time for the dress-ups.
asserted
we → have → ups
This is what it is: I don't want you to be able to hide from it or misunderstand in any way.
asserted
you → want → way
At age two, the artist born Kofi Owusu-Ansah emigrated with his Ghanaian family to Canberra.
asserted
artist → bear → Canberra
His home was filled with gospel music, via his choir leader mother, and the eclectic tastes of his father.
asserted
home → fill → father
"[He] liked anything with an interesting album cover."
Each Saturday, "our cleaning day", the chores were soundtracked by recent CD acquisitions.
asserted
chores → like → acquisitions
"I've always said it was Missy Elliott one weekend, Missy Higgins the next."
asserted
it → say → ?
When his older brother, Kojo, began making music, as Citizen Kay, from a makeshift home studio, "everyone assumed I would follow in [his] footsteps", says Owusu.
asserted
Owusu → begin → footsteps
"For a while, I pushed back."
asserted
I → push → while
Turning his focus to short stories and poetry only encouraged his older brother, who was "basically begging me to start rapping because he saw how the poetry would transition".
asserted
poetry → turn → me
"For my birthday one year he gave me a shitty little mp3 player [with] a few of his beats on there."
asserted
he → give → beats
Clicking with one track that came up on shuffle, Owusu Jnr "started writing [his] first verse".
asserted
Jnr → click → verse
It became the debut from the Ansah Brothers, with a music video filmed at the local golf course in Narrabundah.
asserted
It → become → Narrabundah
At first, Owusu's parents had a "very typical immigrant parent reaction" to their sons pursuing music: "You're supposed to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer.
"
asserted
You → have → music
Luckily for me, my older brother took the brunt of it."
asserted
brother → take → it
It wasn't until TV and festival bookers came knocking, with a pay cheque, that their parents changed their tune.
asserted
parents → knock → tune
That's when Owusu said "by the way … I'm gonna be a rapper, too", he laughs.
asserted
he → say → way
When Owusu appeared on one of Barack Obama's internet-famous playlists, "he saw it before I did".
asserted
I → appear → it
Busting racial stereotypes
The Ansah Brothers were the only black kids in a "very white school [and] city", says Owusu.
"
asserted
Owusu → bust → school
There was a cultural idea of who black people were supposed to be.
asserted
people → be → who
I had two choices at the time.
asserted
I → have → time
Thankfully, he discovered alternatives: The swagger of hit-maker Pharrell Williams; the political hip hop of Lupe Fiasco; the outsider artistry of Outkast's Andre 3000.
asserted
he → discover → 3000
"He breaks so many rules that I had been taught as to what a song should be."
asserted
song → break → rules
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia