OSÁ Reflects on Creativity, Influence, and More Good Music

As a Staten Island native, OSÁ is an artist that is quickly carving out a brand for himself, despite only starting his musical path three years ago during quarantine. With music incredibly vibrant and genre blending, he’s artist incredibly worth checking out. I got the wonderful chance to talk to OSÁ on a Wednesday afternoon, where he guided me through his roots, his experimentation with production, and his personal brand, More Good Music—which he hopes to continue growing within the community.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity

All right cool, I want to start by getting to know your background, and how you got into music?

Early on, I was kind of exposed to music through family events. I wasn't raised or born in Nigeria, but I was still kind of brought up in that type of environment and community here. There were a lot of celebratory events like birthdays or even bridal showers. So I remember going to like someone’s baby shower and one of the things that was mainly in the background was the music—and it was very cultural along with food and being around people in the attire. And  I didn't really get into music until about three years ago, to be honest, that's when I initially started. It was during quarantine. I had a close friend at the time who was also kind of dabbling into music, so we kind of went on that experience together. From there, I continued doing that on and off, kind of just in my room to myself. The following summer, my current manager took me to Boston to meet a bunch of music people, artists, producers. I'd never been to Boston before, also never traveled—let alone for music. So from that experience, that's when I kind of was like, okay this is something that I really want to delve into and explore more, because I actually enjoy doing it.

 And with that, did you grow up singing a lot or is it something  that you just started to figure out, like, oh yeah, I have a voice, I can do that?

I haven't always done it, to be honest. But me and my friends, when I was a little younger, we kinda had this little stint where we rapped in our church. That was my first experience of that.  But it was just because we were young and trying to pivot, trying to be rebels within confined, you know, spaces. 

That makes sense too. That's something super fresh. You’re finding your voice and everything. I want to know more about your personal style right now, and kind of what you try to put into your music that you've made already?

Yeah, it's just like a lot of the music is fluid. It's kind of mellow in a way. It's not something that's so intentional when it comes to creating, and I think it's become a bit more natural to kind of just release whatever it is that I'm being inspired by. Maybe subconsciously it’s gotten to that point where it kind of just comes out.

So it's kind of organic and natural, which is probably one of the best parts of the process, because you're not forcing yourself to do one certain thing. It's just like, this is what I am creating, this is what feels good, and that's exactly the style. What would you call your genre?

Have you heard of Alté? It's like alternative afrobeats. They’re a group of artists and producers in Nigeria, that birthed this genre that is not so traditional. It's kind of a bit left. And they coined that term too, gave it an umbrella, but still not an umbrella, if that makes sense. And it’s not just music. It translates over to style and fashion, cinema and visuals. It’s a whole movement. So I'd say it’s like that and a bunch of other genres. 

That's really cool, I actually didn't know about that movement and genre. I can see those influences now. As far as your music, you’ve also released your first EP, Roll Bounce. What led you to create this project?

I was kind of like working on these tracks, some were finished a bit earlier, and it was kinda shelved until I got to thinking of putting together a project. So ironically, I didn't start creating that project with a theme in mind. I was kinda just working with a bunch of different producers. I think it just kinda synced well with each other, because these producers just so happened to have a style that I was gearing towards. It was also my first time working with producers and I was able to build stuff from scratch. It was a very  organic creative process, to be honest.

You also released a recent single, “Lullabye”. Did you also collaborate with one of those producers to create that single?

Yeah, so actually, the producer who did that was l.ucas—the first producer that I actually met on that Boston trip. We've just had a relationship ever since. He created my first song that I've ever made from scratch, which is “Vice City”,  and he also did “Trobul”, and “Pull Up”. He did a few songs on the project. 

What was your vibe going into it [the inspiration]?

Have you heard of Lido, the producer? He's done a lot of work with Jordan Ward. There was some inspo from his productive style that we kind of went into the session with, but that was also an organic experience. I think first and part of the process, we kinda were messing around and I think we decided to make, like another type of sound, and that's where the bridge comes in. We really like to try to just expand and explore, because, you know, our current limits. 

That makes sense—the actual process behind the song is what makes it. You really have this like, organic and natural creative process, which is really, really cool to see in someone that is fresh to the scene.

Thank you! 

What are your short-term goals?

I'm currently working on another project. I'm also trying to put together when the release of some singles will be. I think that there's more visuals and more music. I'm really trying to release more stuff, especially in the coming months.

That leads me to my next question too. I want to know more about More Good Music?

This is also fairly new. Initially started from part of promo that I was doing for “Pull Up”,  when I was first putting that out. We had just did a the shoot for the video. The videographer that I work with, Kya, I was just like, “Yo can you record me real quick”. It was kinda very sporadic. I got paper, wrote, forgot what I wrote, but More Good Music was on there. And it was just like as part of promo to the single—it later was shelved. And then the following year, I was going to do my first headlining show, and my manager kind of reminded me of the slogan. I had done a sample tee with the logo I made on a random shirt and more and more people kept asking me about the shirt, like, “Yo, can I get a shirt?” “Can I share?” I wasn't expecting it. My friend had a heating press, I borrowed it, made a bunch of tees, told everybody to come to the show, and surprisingly enough, I was able to sell at that show. But it was just cool to see a bunch of people after the show, just repping a tee. From there, I saw that it was an opportunity for me to just develop into something more. Also, trying to bring together community here in New York City, and within, the diaspora of Africans in New York. So it's just been developing more into something a little bit more deeper. We just had an event last month for my birthday. It's kind of like a birthday celebration, but also another community event to host and have, with games and good times—something that we may not see enough from artists here in the New York City area. Hoping to make that a world of its own to be honest.

Who are your dream collabs?

Kaytranada for sure. I like Juls a lot. I also really want to work with Monte Booker. And then there’s another Afro producer, he’s called P2J.

Well, just want to thank you for coming on, I'm really looking forward to see more of your work come out. Is there anything left you want people to know?

I definitely wanna shout-out l.ucas, he's also an artist as well, crazy artist, I call him a wizard. My videographer, Kya. I also want to shout out a lot of the people that kind of helped me get into music. They're artists as well. I wanna shoutout my friends. I also want people to know about More Good Music.