Genesis Owusu is not easing into anything. His third album Redstar Wu & The Worldwide Scourge arrives fully formed, loud, and locked in on the present moment, a record that feels less like a release and more like a confrontation.
Out now via OURNESS, the Ghanaian-Australian artist’s latest project pushes further into the tension that has defined his work from the start. It is chaotic but controlled, restless but intentional. Funk collides with punk, soul bleeds into alt-pop, and everything sits under a constant sense of urgency that never lets up.
That tension is most immediate on focus track “Big Dog,” a track that cuts through with both bite and release. It plays like a warning shot aimed upward, taking on institutional power while still carrying a kind of reckless joy underneath it. Owusu himself frames it simply. The fight matters, but so does what you are fighting for. The ability to live, to feel something, to actually enjoy the moment when it comes.
Across the album, that push and pull holds. Songs move between anger and tenderness without settling into either for too long. There is political weight here, but it never flattens into something preachy. Instead, it stays personal, grounded in the idea that reflection is part of the job. Owusu has pointed to Nina Simone’s belief that artists should mirror their time, and this record takes that seriously without losing its sense of movement.
It helps that the sound refuses to stay in one place. Neo-soul passages give way to distorted guitar lines, hip-hop rhythms slip into something closer to Brit rock, and then everything resets again. It should feel disjointed. It does not. The cohesion comes from tone, from perspective, from the fact that every shift feels intentional rather than decorative.
This is not a record built for easy listening. It is built to sit with, to react to, to argue with a little. And that is the point. Owusu is not trying to smooth anything over. He is documenting the moment as it is, and leaving just enough space to imagine something better on the other side.
Featured image credit: Isaac Brown
