Genesis Owusu

Genesis Owusu crafts music as a Ghanaian-Australian songwriter and performer that blends relaxed funk grooves, intense rap delivery, and alternative rock drive in ways that resist easy classification. He cites Frank Ocean, Kanye West, OutKast, and Jimi Hendrix among his key influences, and his tracks balance exuberant celebration with inward reflection while addressing timely social topics including cultural appropriation and police brutality. Early projects such as the 2017 EP Cardrive and his high-energy stage performances first drew notice across Australia, after which the single "Don't Need You" gained rotation from U.K. and U.S. curators in 2020. The 2021 debut full-length Smiling with No Teeth earned near-universal praise and captured Album of the Year at the ARIA Awards, while the equally wide-ranging and playfully varied second album Struggler arrived in August 2023.

Kofi Owusu-Ansah entered the world in Ghana before relocating with his family to Canberra, Australia, at age two. He launched the duo the Ansah Brothers with his older brother Koji, who performs as Citizen Kay, in 2013 and soon afterward began appearing solo under the Genesis Owusu name. By 2015 he was appearing onstage with a crew of dancers and backing vocalists in coordinated red attire called the Goons, introducing a vivid visual component to his performances. Support from the influential Australian outlet Triple J followed, first with a Top Five placement in the Unearthed High contest and then with featured-artist status on Unearthed in early 2017. After the Cardrive EP appeared, the track "Sideways," produced by Perrin Moss and Simon Mavin of Hiatus Kaiyote, became a radio success. Further cuts including "Wit' da Team" in 2018 and "WUTD" in 2019 drew listeners, and he received the ACT Live Voice of the Year honor at the 2019 National Live Music Awards. The 2020 release "Don't Need You" reached number one on Triple J while also receiving play on BBC Radio 6 in the U.K. and on U.S. stations such as KCRW and WXPN.

For the debut album Smiling with No Teeth, issued in 2021, Owusu worked with Australian musicians Kirin J. Callinan, Touch Sensitive, and Julian Sudek of World Champion. Although the project reached only number 27 on the ARIA charts, critics embraced it enthusiastically and it secured three ARIA Music Awards, among them Album of the Year. The non-album singles "GTFO" and "Get Inspired," together with the Jack River collaboration "Endless Summer," kept listeners engaged during the wait for the next album. Fronted by the forceful punk-rap cut "Leaving the Light," the sophomore LP Struggler surfaced in August 2023 with production contributions from Mikey Freedom, Sol Was, and Jason Evigan.