Album Review: Smiling With No Teeth by Genesis Owusu

Well, outwardly speaking that is. This is a party that has a room open for every thought and feeling; mental health discussions in the kitchen as the night edges into its wee hours, the bedroom where things can find their silky smooth sheets, all the way through to the hefty discussions and real talk of the effects of being a black man in a white world in the living room - things can understandably get very real, very quick. The Ghanaian-born, Canberra-based artist Owusu has developed his presence throughout a smattering of singles and EP's since 2017, all leading to a debut that's orchestrated in telling a story without getting lost in the narrative.

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Australian rap may not have broken into the mainstream just yet, but if his debut album is anything to go by, Genesis Owusu may well be the man to make it so. Born in Ghana and raised in Canberra since the age of two, Owusu describes his style as 21st century punk-jazz, but in reality this is an album unlike any you’ll hear all year. Smiling With No Teeth may have nods to Prince, Outkast, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar in its style, but in reality, this is truly genre-crossing stuff.

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Prince! Kendrick Lamar! Gorillaz! Childish Gambino! Yves Tumor! [MC] Ride! Genesis Owusu's name has been mentioned in such esteemed company by various punters in varying veracities since the release of Smiling With No Teeth, and I am leading with this information because I've seen enough metrics (and have enough common sense) to understand that most of you won't read past this paragraph. Here's a four word review to chew on before you fuck off back to incognito mode or InstaTok or whatever: Get This Up Ya. Genesis Owusu's debut(!) full-length album is a rarer pleasure than a One Wipe Shit.

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