Genesis Owusu Returns With Honed Agression & Urgent Messages On Powerful ‘REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

A lot is happening in the world right now, and the issues seem to pile on overnight. Every moment we open a piece of technology, our minds are flooded with dread, conflict, and no real way to tell fiction from reality. We have entered an era where most only feel safe living in extremes, pushing the things that challenge our ways of thinking far out of reach, and sitting comfortably in our version of the truth. At a time when everything feels divided, we look more to those who broke this cycle, exiled mundane arguments from their day-to-day, and sit above it all, observing and delivering their findings through art. The multifaceted Genesis Owusu is one of those artists, with a powerful, booming voice and the perspective of a rebel unafraid to speak out against the misdeeds around him. 

We were introduced to Owusu’s political side in his 2023 sophomore studio effort, STRUGGLER, a sprawling, charged effort that found the artist applying his exploratory spirit both sonically and lyrically. On his second album, though, Owusu played the role of narrator, delivering his findings with careful empathy in hopes of shining a light on the world’s forgotten problems. In the three years since, Owusu has seemingly grown tired of simply observing, which leads us to REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE, the long-awaited follow-up to STRUGGLER. Although mapping Owusu and how he landed on the sonic terrain built on his latest would not start at another point in their career. Across this tracklist, Owusu sounds fed up, exhausted by the use of whatever soul is left in humanity after being rung out by the avalanche of negativity that crashes on us daily, and aims to take action. 

REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE is an animated, honed attack on the powers-that-be and any expectations placed on Owusu. This is the most focused, aggressive music of the artist’s career. Long gone are the days when Owusu would launch into subgenres aimlessly, as he picks apart the tropes he previously explored to build a distorted, fascinating, raw yet glistening fusion-focused world he can call his own. This does not indicate that REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE isn’t just as experimental, but all of the risks are put through a tighter lens from the artist. Rather than proving his well-established artistic range, these songs focus on Owusu the songwriter, as the artist has plenty of opinions to spin into his infectious melodic sensibilities. 

“Ones up high just laugh while we suffer, so fuck we look like battling one another,” raps Owusu on the groovy cut “SITUATIONS.” This one line, delivered with the smoothness of someone trying to convince you, would prove to be a rallying cry throughout REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE. With the smoke cleared, Owusu can deliver his sentiments bluntly, which would prove to be a winning formula on his latest. It is in these moments, like the startling realities told on the title track, or the pulsating distortion of “DEATH CULT ZOMBIE,” where Owusu’s vision for his third album shines brightest. Sure, more melodic, digestible cuts like the pop-tinted “HELLSTAR” and danceable “FALLING BOTH WAYS” are lovely touches, but ultimately detract from the overall vision of REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE. 

It is when Owusu truly lets go and hitches his acrobatic vocals to the back of his poignant trains of thought that this album truly begins to take shape. The soulful funk of “BLESSED ARE THE MEEK,” the heart-pounding, almost uplifting cut “LIFE KEEPS GOING,” and the self-assured nature of “BIG DOG” are all sterling examples of the artist arriving at a singularity that doesn’t tear down the underlying themes of REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE. 

These themes, of unity and communities banding together to fight the invisible overlords, are what make Owusu’s third outing his most realized to date. This is not the Owusu we all fell in love with, but a version the man himself has been waiting to share all these years. REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE fearlessly paints a self-portrait of an artist finding the perfect sonic medium to execute rebellious rhetoric and taking advantage of it to deliver an urgent message of resilience.