by Tracey Bowers-Lee
Photo credit: Oseko's Facebook
Many music lovers were looking forward to their favourite artists' new music release and concert tour dates. But due to the pandemic, many artists have had to put their projects on hold.
Hip-hop artist, Oseko, from Courtice, Ont., had just returned from visiting family in Kenya when the pandemic approached Canada’s borders.
When the 28-year-old got home, he got back into the recording studio, hard at work on his new album, but the shutdown has left his last project unfinished.
I spoke with Oseko about what he has been doing during the pandemic and his plans for the future.
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How was your trip to Africa?
It was a lot, it was dope, it was different. Like, I had gone back to Kenya when I was a kid, and I always said I’d go back. I went back because my grandmother was sick, so I went to go see her, and I got the chance to go see my mother's village for the first time. After I went to the city, I went to some radio stations and stuff, so yeah it was a dope trip. It was amazing, it was a lot of, it was a lot different. Like, I felt like I was there for two months and I was only there for like two weeks.
It was in February you left, so how was the flight to Kenya?
We left right when the COVID stuff started, right? And there were some empty seats. The thing is people were taking it serious but not taking it seriously. Nobody could ever have imagined this would happen.
What was the plan after you returned from the trip?
When I got home, we were in the studio like really heavy. Like, after we put out the [music] video, like a lot of people hit us up to work. So, we were in the studio and then when the COVID stuff started, we just took precautions when people are washing their hands and stuff. But we had some shows planned. Like, I was supposed to play in Ottawa for the first time and that got cancelled…We were going to come up with a record probably about like, May, June, because we're in the studio and yeah, then this stuff happened.
What do you think these events, like the one in Ottawa, will look like? Do you think it will happen in September instead?
I don't even think it'll happen in September, because gatherings and stuff won’t happen for a long time. I don't know, we [are] just trying to figure it out every single day. I think like, internet concerts and releasing more music than you usually would. I have so many years of footage, maybe we could take it and put it into something, I don't know. It's something that we're thinking about every day, working through the ideas.
The Instagram Live concerts, I thought about it, maybe I'll do it. One of my friends has a channel called ‘Major Markings’ and he does sound clashes on that. So, he'll put like, conscious reggae versus dancehall and others clashes. He’s been doing that for like the past month and he's seen a growth in his following because so many people want that content, so we'll see what happens.
Tell me how the pandemic has affected your plans, your career, your whole viewpoint on the future.
Yeah, well, everything is like a year delayed. So, it kind of messed a lot of things up because everything's a year delayed. I actually was supposed to go back to Kenya in October, and I was going to perform, so I can't do that. But I think the way it will affect the future, I think everything will be way more digital. That will accelerate the whole curve, that whole generation. So, you got to figure out how to take advantage of that and use that to the best of your ability.
What is the one thing you think you’ll remember about the pandemic and the lockdown?
It's just that, there's some who are going to sit at home and wait for things to happen and there are people who are out there to get it…So, I just figure out how to be a winner during probably the worst situation. I'm just kind of figuring out how to be a winner and not be somebody that’s seen what was going on outside, seeing the pandemic, and was just quitting. So, I'm just trying to figure out how to win. I'll figure it out, I think we have a pretty good plan in place as soon as they relax the precautions a little bit.
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