Genesis Owusu picks his three favourite Prince albums
Few musicians could get away with changing their name to an unpronounceable symbol, and even fewer could take on the weight of being referred to as merely ‘The Artist’, but Prince seemed to embody both with ease. A true artist in every sense of the word, his work extended far beyond the hits we have all come to know and love. Beyond ‘Kiss’ and ‘Purple Rain’, Prince’s unparalleled creativity pushed into acting, dancing, and even fashion.
As a result of his singular artistry, Prince has become an endless muse for artists across genres and generations. Some of his more surprising creative offspring include St. Vincent, Dave Grohl, and Cyndi Lauper, who even wrote a song in honour of him. As his influence persists into a contemporary crop of artists prioritising originality and innovation, Prince’s influence can even be found on the other side of the world, in Canberra, Australia.
Hit shuffle on Genesis Owusu’s discography, and you’ll immediately feel the influence of Prince. The Ghanaian-Australian artist forges a distinctively smooth and funky sound that evokes the same euphoria Prince centred in his own work. Owusu has been directly inspired by Prince and shared his love for the artist.
While picking out records for Amoeba, Owusu shared his trifecta of “top tier holy trinity Prince albums,” which is made up of 1981’s Controversy, 1982’s iconic 1999, and, “obviously,” 1984’s Purple Rain. “I feel like if you know me, or my music, I think the Prince influence is pretty spoken for,” he shrugged.
Owusu used Prince as a reference point even when he wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted his music to sound like. Despite having no real sound in mind for his first record, Smiling with No Teeth, the rapper found himself contemplating, “What would Prince do in this moment if he was, like, a Ghanaian-Australian rapper trying to make his first album in Canberra, in a rural town?”
It’s easy to see why the three-album run makes up Owusu’s trifecta. Controversy kicks it off, which set into motion Prince’s preconception with purple, while 1999 and Purple Rain would spawn some of the artist’s greatest hits, including ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ and ‘When Doves Cry’. Owusu’s favourite track is the slightly lesser-known ‘All The Critics Love U In New York’ from 1999.
“I don’t know why that’s my favourite song,” he admitted, “but it’s my favourite Prince song. It just kind of like meanders and hypnotises for 7-9 minutes or something like that. It’s just off-the-wall insane. I think it encapsulates a lot of what I love about Prince as an artist.”
Revisit the track below.
