Del Osei-Owusu interviews B Of Briz…
Congratulations on the release of Charioteer, how does it feel?
It feels strange, honestly. I’m still pretty new to releasing music, or sharing music generally, and it feels like there’s this little piece of me out in the world! It feels good to see / hear that some people are enjoying it. I’d honestly do this for just one person to get a proper kick out of it.
What’s the story behind it?
I’ve always found the Platonic tradition a really beautiful one. Like any tradition or system, it has it’s limitations and blind spots, but it’s a tradition that lasted such a long time, and I think there’s a lot of wisdom can be found there. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this tradition, and it’s shaped the way I see the world and myself, and I wanted to express some of that. Platonic philosophy took many forms, and myth and allegory are definitely an important aspect. Lots of people know the allegory of the Cave, for example, and the Charioteer is an allegory that recurs in many ancient traditions, and Plato’s retelling of it is a pretty cohesive account of Plato’s view of metaphysics. Myth and song have poetry in common, beautiful and powerful imagery. I hope my song ‘embodies’ the myth is a way brings it even more to life. Obviously, I hope it’s a groove, too!
You’re having a pretty sweet year given that this is the second of your releases, what’s been the highlight so far?
I think the highlight so far was hearing Charioteer played alongside some of the greats of British alternative hip hop by Tom Robinson on his BBC Radio 6 Music show Now Playing, in an episode celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Streets releasing Weak Become Heroes. Some of my absolute favourite artists (Kae Tempest, Little Simz, M.I.A.), and me!
But honestly, anytime a human being tells me they loved one of tracks is a highlight, it makes me so glad this didn’t just sit on my hard drive.
Your first single What Would Buffy Do? was a bit of a hit with the Fresh On The Net team; how did that song come about?
Basically, when I started making music, I made a whole-ass concept album (which I’m still working on, by the way!) and then when I started thinking about sharing music, I knew I couldn’t start with that. I knew I’d need to make an EP that introduced my potential audience to me – who I am, what I value, what’s important to me. And Buffy’s a big part of who I am. I started watching at 18, when it started airing in the UK, and it provided all these wonderful exemplars of girls / women my age, who were like me who loved going out, and music and clubbing, and fashion, and hanging out with their buddies, but who were also trying to live ethical lives with meaning and purpose and agency. I’ve re-watched that show probably at least dozens, if not hundreds of times – it still holds up as one of the best TV shows ever written (and that’s coming from somebody who LOVES TV!).
It’s a big nod to an iconic nineties TV show, what member of the Scooby Gang do you relate to most?
Oh my goodness, that’s a difficult question!
They’re all in me.
When I watched as it aired (I’m basically the same age as them) it was definitely Buffy. Like her, my sense of justice got me in some trouble, and my sense of difference, and separation often felt burdensome. But I also identified with Willow, her desire to learn, her sense of awkwardness. There was even some Xander in me – his wit, his wit trumping his compassion sometimes, his self-righteousness. Giles for his love of libraries! Libraries have played an enormous part of my life!
You’re a rapper and songwriter from Bristol, how did it all begin for you?
Basically I was beginning to use a DAW to produce a podcast, and I knew it had all this functionality to make music. But it was when I was having a long, interesting, rambling convo with my best bud, that an idea for a song emerged, and I said, “I’m gonna write that song”, and I did. And then I discovered I loved writing songs. I love how those exploratory conversations, especially when they involve an element of playfulness, can spark these bits of creativity!
What did you listen to growing up?
Ha! I was definitely an eclectic kid. I grew up with prog, folk and classical. I started my own collection when I was about 12 and it is was all Bowie, all the time. Then at about 13 (in 1993) I fell in love with hip hop. I loved West Coast hip hop (Funkdoobiest, Snoop, Luniz etc etc). Of course, Tupac. But it was almost always complicated, as a woman.
I loved Wu Tang, and Cypress Hill – they were so weird – I loved that about them.
I did love Lauryn Hill / The Fugees, Missy Elliot, Salt-N-Pepa – that love was definitely more straightforwardly joyful!
I also loved garage, rave, techno, jungle. All the good shiz.
Anyway, in the mid to late 90s, trip-hop. I loved how cool, interesting, enigmatic, it was. In the 2000s, it was dubstep. I was living in Bristol. Going out…
You have a PhD in Philosophy, how has that inspired the direction that your music has taken?
I have definitely been conscious of the fact that art (in whatever form, certainly music) shares many of the same aims as philosophy: it helps us explore and process ideas and experience in useful ways. I see this an extension of my experience both studying and teaching Philosophy, not separate from it.
We’re all these strange little constellations of ideas and experiences and Philosophy is an important star within my constellation.
And the only reason to do this, to make and share this music, is because it brings me joy to be able to express these ideas and these experiences in this way, and it brings me joy when other people respond to those ideas and experiences and find something useful or joyful in them, or feel connected to them.
You describe your music as weird-ass rap, how does a writing session begin for you?
Basically, I write down funny little turns of phrase and ideas in my notes on my phone as they occur to me. Like a lot of writers, that often happens when I should be falling asleep. But it also happens when I’m just talking shit with the people I love. I’m an ideas kinda person, so the idea precedes the musical elements, and it’s once I have the lyrical / conceptual backbone or at least a kernel, that I open my DAW, and then it’s a little dance between the two.
COVID impacted the creative industry in a big way, what kept you motivated?
Music and creative projects generally helped me manage the anxiety that has been a part of our lives in this dreadful pandemic.
I was in a lucky and privileged position – I work from home, and had the resources to be able to do this bit of creative exploration. That’s why we need to fund the arts (and artists) properly, including community arts; creativity and learning are so important for mental health and resiliency. I turned 40 at the start of the pandemic, and that’s this time of self-reflection and re-evaluation, anyway, so it was a double-whammy!
The last couple of years have been a time to reflect what did you learn about yourself?
I’d spent a lot of my energy and focus in the previous part of my life in an honest (and fairly rigorous, I like to think) attempt to understand the world. I definitely will continue that (every day’s a school day and all that) but I feel the pull towards making and doing – putting that built-up understanding and experience into making and doing – an attempt at praxis.
Did you pick up any new skills?
Yeah, I’m one of those *ssholes! I tried drawing, but that didn’t stick, and I was really bad at it! I think it’s important to note when attempts at learning or creative pursuits don’t work out. That’s totally OK when that happens. It doesn’t mean I’ll never try again, or that I’m not ‘creative’ in a larger sense. It’s so easy to have a less than fulfilling experience when trying something new and to draw the wrong conclusions (punning inadvertent!). Music production and song writing and rapping did stick. I had the assistance of a wonderful organisation here in Bristol – Saffron Music. They run an amazing membership programme for women and non-binary people and you get access to a bit of mentoring and online workshops around music tech and the music industry. I had three extremely useful session with a wonderful mentor, that really helped me focus in in what I wanted to achieve and how I might go about it.
Being from Bristol, what are your three favourite things about the city?
Haha, we’re so smug about this place. I guess I have to preface this by saying all of the problems with our society and culture exist in Bristol, as they exist everywhere!
Firstly, I think it’s important to note that much of this city was built off money made by people who were deeply complicit in the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade. I think that’s a history and a lived reality that we’re starting to grapple with, and I love that there is energy towards change in Bristol. There’s a lot of anti-racism work that goes on here, on an activism and cultural level, like the Bus Boycott in the 60s, and the BLM protests in 2020. As you will have seen, an important activist – Roy Hackett – recently passed away, and it’s been a time for Bristolians to reflect on this anti-racist work, and double-down on our determination to understand and engage in anti-racist thinking and work.
OK, and having acknowledged that, the things I love exist here as a result of that energy toward change and the contributions of Bristolians with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. So, I love the wonderful food, music and arts that happen here, they’re such a big part of what makes Bristol feel so interesting and exciting.
I guess lastly, I came here for a really important part of my education, and Bristol is a city that cares about education. I’ve worked in all three of the city’s universities, but it’s been the alternative educational offerings here that I really think is special, offered by all sort of charities, community organisations.
What’s your theory on who Banksy is?
They literally tell you his name and national insurance number when you put your name on the electoral roll here, but we’re not allowed to tell anyone on pain of being exiled from these fair shores forever!!!
Seriously, though, as a masked rapper releasing music pseudonymously, I think it’s important to understand that we should allow people the level of privacy they need in order to make their art and say what they have to say. If everyone had to be perfectly transparent in order to share their art, the world would be a much more boring and less honest place, specifically one where it’s more difficult to speak truth to power.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Because of this journey I’m taking into music, I’m trying to give a lot of my listening time to other emerging artists, it’s quite a ride!
I’ve been loving The Line is a Curve by Kae Tempest. Their career has been an absolute joy to follow over the last decade and change. And I’ve been loving Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz.
Your third single, Nearest Possible World, was released on 14th August. What is that about?
The idea of a ‘nearest possible world’ is also a piece of conceptual furniture borrowed from modal logic, like a camping chair at a summer BBQ.
I’m using it here to explore how we can navigate our way to future possible worlds of our own choosing – how we can picture the world we want to live in and try our best to effect the changes (or instantiate the facts) needed to get there. It’s like this voyage of choices.
It’s about how we try to move from the present to the future with a heart and mind that are exploratory and open but also focused on and determined to enact our values to make the world, and our lives, better.
It’s got this amazing sung vocal feature by vocal artist Maite Suarez – it adds this beautiful texture and otherworldliness to the track.
What’s next for you?
So, my single Nineties Girl is out on 17th September. It’s a tribute to some of the amazing women making music in the nineties, when I was a teenager, and how they helped shape my outlook. But it’s also about the specific kind of way teenagers fall in love, and what it is to be a teenage with a big horizon in a small town.
Then my EP Forty-Two is released on 5th October. I’ve been really enjoying sharing singles from it, but I’m really excited to have to whole piece of work out there in the world. It’s this celebration of getting to this moment in life where what’s important to you has become clearer and you just about have enough energy still to try to enact that in the world!
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