No Sophomore Slump in 'Struggler': Genesis Owusu Crushes It Again

If you dig Young Fathers and TV on the Radio but haven't heard Genesis Owusu, let's change that.

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When Genesis Owusu’s debut album, Smiling With No Teeth, dropped in the summer of 2021, it was one of those special musical moments that made me put away any busy work to give it my full attention. The Canberra-based musician seemed to come out of nowhere with his genre-bending effort that pushed the idea of hip-hop music to its outer limits. Unlike anything I’ve heard since, Smiling With No Teeth ended up at number eight on my year-end list when I had this to say about the record:

“Smiling With No Teeth is a revelation and a breath of fresh air. The Ghanan-born and Canberra-based artist Genesis Owusu sends the listener on a genre-bending odyssey. While running through alternative hip-hop, neo-soul, funk, and early 00’s indie territory, Owusu is here to talk about mental health and racial inequality... The record kicks off with a bang, but it’s the groovy run in the middle of the album that makes Smiling With No Teeth a must-hear album. ‘Waitin’ on Ya’ is a soulful yearner in the styling of André 3000 before Owusu confronts the black dog on ‘Don’t Need You.’ Going back to R&B’s funky roots, the song would already be considered a classic if Prince had released it.”

Two quick years later, Owusu is back with Struggler, an excellent sophomore record that builds upon all the ideas explored in his debut. While Smiling With No Teeth used Owusu’s character, The Black Dog, to explore racism, Struggler is inhabited by roaches combined with a fear of God to once again dive into mental health struggles. When Owusu announced the album a few months ago, he set the scene by stating:

“THE STRUGGLER RUNS THROUGH AN ABSURD WORLD WITH NO ‘WHERE’ OR ‘WHY’ AT HAND. JUST AN INSTINCTUAL INNER RHYTHM, YELLING AT THEM TO SURVIVE THE PESTILENCE AND LIGHTNING BOLTS COMING FROM ABOVE. A ROACH JUST KEEPS ROACHING.”

“Leaving the Light” immediately establishes the foundations of this new theme as the narrator scurries through climate change and their inevitable end through frenetic beats and an arena-worthy chant of a chorus. Combined with “The Roach” and “The Old Man,” Struggler has one of the best opening runs of the year by fully committing to the idea of a concept album.

“See Ya There” mercifully brings the temperature down a few degrees as Owusu continues to show his musical diversity with a soulful number. “Tied Up” is one funky single where Owusu writes one of the best Prince songs you’ve never heard and, in the process, exchanges the tattered mummy look of The Black Dog for the sleekness of Bono’s era as The Fly.

As great as the first half of Struggler is, Owusu again defies algorithm convention by placing the strongest songs on the back half of the album. “That’s Life (A Swamp)” grooves into Thundercat territory as Owusu sings, “My arms are tired from carrying the weight of your shit, tryna travel light but that weight around your waist is a bit.” Meanwhile, “Stay Blessed” would easily be the best Bloc Party song in over fifteen years, and “What Comes Will Come” is my fav on the album with its bizarro dub roots that give way to Jason Evigan’s feverish drums.

Sure, Genesis Owusu could have explored a wider sound pallet on Struggler, but eleven songs come off pretty damn cohesive for being recorded in ten studios with ten producers. It does a great job of solidifying what makes Owusu one of the most unique talents as he flirts with commercial breakthroughs (Owusu opened for Paramore on some of their dates earlier this year). Who knows what a third album would sound like, but count me as first in line to want to hear it.

Struggler is available now on Ourness.