Ranking the best Genesis Owusu songs means grappling with an artist who refuses to sit still inside one genre, one mood, or one persona. The Ghanaian-Australian rapper and singer, born Kofi Owusu-Ansah in Koforidua and raised in Canberra, has spent less than a decade building a catalog that jumps from industrial punk to neo-soul to gutter-funk without ever losing his voice underneath it all. From the ARIA-sweeping debut Smiling With No Teeth through the road-worn introspection of Struggler and the politically charged fire of Redstar Wu and the Worldwide Scourge, this list pulls together the twenty tracks that best capture why Owusu keeps getting called one of the most exciting live performers to come out of Australia in a generation.
Don’t Need You
The lead single that first put Owusu on international radar arrived in 2020 as a preview of Smiling With No Teeth, and it remains one of the most immediate entry points into his catalog. The track slides between a smoky falsetto verse and a baritone hook with an ease that feels almost unfair, showing off the vocal range that would define the rest of the album. Production-wise, the low end sits thick and warm while the drums snap with a tightness that translates whether played through laptop speakers or a proper set of studio monitors. It’s the kind of song that rewards a close listen on headphones, where the layered backing vocals and subtle horn stabs really open up.
The Other Black Dog
Opening the emotional arc of Smiling With No Teeth, this track sets up the “Black Dog” concept that runs through the entire record as a metaphor for depression and internalized racism. Owusu’s delivery here is clipped and anxious, matching a beat built from industrial clangs and a bassline that lurches rather than grooves. The songwriting is dense with internal rhyme and rapid-fire imagery, demanding multiple listens to fully unpack. It’s a bold choice for an album opener, prioritizing atmosphere and thematic weight over an obvious single, and it pays off by immediately signaling this isn’t a conventional hip hop record.
Gold Chains
Released in February 2021 as the fourth single from Smiling With No Teeth, “Gold Chains” is arguably the album’s most direct pop moment, built around a strutting bassline and a chorus melody that lodges itself instantly. Owusu has said the track was one of the first written for the record and that it set the lyrical tone for everything that followed, wrestling with materialism, image, and self-worth. The production, handled with contributions from Andrew Klippel and Dave Hammer, layers funk guitar against a punchy drum pocket that sounds enormous live. This one won first place in the 2021 Vanda and Young Global Songwriting Competition, a nod to just how sharply constructed the hook really is.
Centrefold
Barely two minutes long, “Centrefold” is proof that Owusu doesn’t need three verses and a bridge to make an impression. The track leans into a stripped-back, almost claustrophobic arrangement where every hi-hat and vocal ad-lib is given room to breathe. Lyrically it digs into vulnerability and exposure, themes that recur throughout the record’s back half, with a delivery that shifts from restrained to explosive within a single bar. Fans who discover Owusu through his more maximalist tracks often come back around to “Centrefold” as a favorite once they’ve sat with the whole album.
Whip Cracker
This one hits like a jolt of pure aggression, and it’s a highlight for anyone drawn to the punk and industrial edges of Owusu’s sound. The mix is deliberately abrasive, with distorted textures crowding the low-mid frequencies and a vocal performance that borders on shouted. Thematically, it channels rage at systemic racism and dehumanization with a bluntness that separates it from the album’s more melodic moments. It’s a track that demands to be experienced loud, whether that’s blasting from a car stereo or through a solid pair of over-ear headphones during a workout.
Drown
Featuring Kirin J Callinan, “Drown” is one of the more collaborative and sonically expansive cuts on Smiling With No Teeth, pairing Owusu’s rhythmic cadence with Callinan’s theatrical vocal presence. The arrangement builds gradually, layering synth pads and reverb-heavy guitar until the track feels like it’s genuinely being submerged, a neat trick of production matching subject matter. Owusu’s flow here is more melodic than percussive, letting the collaboration breathe rather than turning it into a straight trade-off of verses. It’s a showcase of how well Owusu writes for duets without losing his own identity in the mix.
A Song About Fishing
Deceptively titled and endlessly rewatched for its accompanying visuals, “A Song About Fishing” is really a meditation on grief and mortality dressed up in metaphor. The instrumental is comparatively sparse for this album, giving the lyrics room to land with real weight, particularly in the closing verse. Owusu’s storytelling instincts are on full display, building a narrative arc within a track barely over three minutes long. It stands as one of the emotional high points of the record, the kind of song that changes meaning depending on what a listener brings to it.
Waitin’ On Ya
A slower burn than most of the album, “Waitin’ On Ya” leans into neo-soul textures with warm keys and a laid-back drum groove that gives Owusu space to stretch his singing voice. The lyricism deals with patience, longing, and the frustration of waiting on someone or something to change, delivered with more restraint than the album’s punchier cuts. It’s a good example of the influence Frank Ocean and OutKast have had on his songwriting, blending rap cadence with genuine melodic craft. On a good pair of headphones, the subtle reverb tails and background harmonies reveal just how carefully this one was mixed.
No Looking Back
Closing out much of the album’s emotional throughline, “No Looking Back” pairs a driving, almost motorik rhythm with lyrics about forward momentum and self-reclamation. The production stacks layers of synth and percussion that build toward a genuinely cathartic final third, a structural choice that mirrors the song’s message. Owusu’s vocal performance ranges from conversational verses to a near-shouted hook, tracking the emotional intensity of the lyrics moment to moment. It’s a fan favorite in the live set precisely because that build translates so well to a crowd.
Bye Bye
The closing track of Smiling With No Teeth sends the album off on a note of hard-won peace rather than resolution, wrapping the “Black Dog” narrative with a sense of exhausted acceptance. Musically it’s more understated, built around a looping melodic figure and vocals that sit closer to spoken cadence than full singing. As a sequencing choice, it works beautifully, letting the record exhale after the intensity of everything before it. Revisiting the album in full makes clear how deliberately “Bye Bye” was positioned to land.
Leaving The Light
The strident lead single from 2023’s Struggler, “Leaving The Light” reintroduced Owusu with a synthwave-powered sound that leaned harder into punk-rap territory than anything on the debut. Production came from a team including Mikey Freedom, Sol Was, and Jason Evigan, and the results are immediately noticeable in the polish of the mix without sacrificing any of the grit in Owusu’s delivery. Lyrically, it grapples with disillusionment and personal transformation, setting the tone for an album explicitly framed around struggle and endurance. It’s a genuinely great entry point for listeners who want the newer, harder-edged side of the catalog.
The Roach
Coming in at under three minutes, “The Roach” is one of Struggler’s most compact and punchy statements, using the image of a cockroach as a metaphor for resilience against being stepped on. The instrumental leans into scratchy, distorted guitar tones that give the track a lo-fi urgency, contrasting with the more polished production elsewhere on the record. Owusu’s flow is rapid and confrontational here, matching the defiant tone of the lyrics. It’s the kind of song that grabs attention fast and gets stuck for days afterward.
Stay Blessed
“Stay Blessed” finds a groove-heavy middle ground between the industrial edges of the debut and the more song-forward writing on Struggler, built around a bassline that practically demands movement. The lyrics balance gratitude against hardship, a recurring emotional tension throughout the record. Vocally, Owusu moves fluidly between rapped verses and a sung hook, a versatility that has become one of his defining traits as a performer. It also happens to be a genuinely fun listen, proof that Struggler’s heavier themes never come at the expense of actual musicality.
See Ya There
Described by critics as one of the sweetest slices of neo-soul in Owusu’s catalog, “See Ya There” runs nearly four and a half minutes and uses that space to let the arrangement breathe in ways few other tracks on the album do. Warm keys, understated bass, and a patient vocal performance combine for something closer to a slow-burn ballad than a rap song, even though Owusu’s cadence never fully disappears. It’s a strong example of the funk and jazz influences he’s cited from artists like Frank Ocean coming through in the actual instrumentation, not just the aesthetic. Late-night, headphones-on listening is exactly the context this track was built for.
That’s Life (A Swamp)
Fusing funk and jazz in a way that critics singled out as one of Struggler’s most ambitious moments, “That’s Life (A Swamp)” runs over five minutes and takes its time getting where it’s going. Horns and loose, live-feeling percussion give the track an organic, almost jam-session energy that stands apart from the tighter production found elsewhere on the record. Lyrically, it takes a wearier, more reflective view of survival than the album’s punchier cuts, fitting its extended runtime. It rewards patience in a way that makes it a favorite among listeners who gravitate toward the more experimental corners of his catalog.
Balthazar
“Balthazar” pulls from biblical and mythological imagery to frame a story about temptation, power, and self-doubt, delivered over a beat that mixes tense, minor-key instrumentation with moments of unexpected melodic release. Owusu’s vocal performance ranges widely here, from a near-whispered verse to a full-throated hook, tracking the internal conflict at the heart of the lyrics. The mix keeps things tight and controlled, letting small production details, like a subtle vocal chop or a filtered synth line, do a lot of emotional heavy lifting. It’s a deep cut that consistently comes up when longtime fans talk about Struggler’s most underrated tracks.
Freak Boy
Critics have called “Freak Boy” a slap in the face from an indie kid with an attitude, and that description fits the track’s spiky guitar tone and confrontational energy perfectly. Clocking in at under two and a half minutes, it doesn’t waste a second, throwing distorted riffs against a vocal performance that veers into near-punk shouting. Lyrically, it leans into themes of otherness and refusing to be boxed in, a thread that runs through much of Owusu’s writing. It’s proof that even on an album filled with genre experiments, Owusu can still deliver a straightforward, high-energy rock moment when he wants to.
Pirate Radio
Released in September 2025 as Owusu’s first new material in two years, “Pirate Radio” served as the lead single for 2026’s Redstar Wu and the Worldwide Scourge and immediately signaled a heavier, more politically pointed direction. The track blends sharp punk production with hard-hitting rap verses, addressing paranoia, media manipulation, and a fractured social landscape head-on. Owusu has described the song as an attempt to sound an alarm and break through public hypnosis, and the urgency in his delivery backs that up completely. It’s an aggressive, timely reintroduction that made clear the new album wasn’t going to play things safe.
Stampede
As one of the singles previewing Redstar Wu and the Worldwide Scourge, “Stampede” leans into the album’s blend of neo-soul, synth-punk, and deep funk, moving at a pace that matches its title. The production is dense and layered, stacking percussion and synth textures that build toward a genuinely propulsive chorus. Owusu’s vocal delivery shifts constantly between rapped verses and melodic hooks, a technique that’s become one of his signatures across three albums now. It’s a track built for big speakers or a strong pair of over-ear headphones, since the low-end detail is a huge part of the appeal.
Death Cult Zombie
Released in late October 2025 as another advance single, “Death Cult Zombie” fits the third album’s stated theme of reflecting on political, social, and economic unrest, delivered with a title as blunt as the subject matter demands. The instrumental leans industrial and menacing, built around a stomping beat and layered vocal effects that give the track a genuinely unsettling atmosphere. Owusu’s writing here trades in imagery of decay and collective numbness, continuing the more overtly political turn the album takes compared to his earlier work. It’s a standout example of how far his sound has evolved since the funk-forward material on Smiling With No Teeth.
Taken together, these twenty tracks map an artist who has spent three albums refusing to repeat himself, whether that means industrial punk one verse and neo-soul balladry the next. For a deeper dive into the rest of the catalog, GlobalMusicVibe’s full songs archive is worth exploring for more artist breakdowns and rankings like this one. And for anyone planning to give this list its proper due, checking out GlobalMusicVibe’s guides to the best headphones or the best earbuds for detailed listening is a smart move before pressing play, since so much of what makes Owusu’s production special lives in the low end and the small textural details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What genre is Genesis Owusu?
Genesis Owusu resists a single genre label, drawing on hip hop, funk, post-punk, neo-soul, and alternative rock across his catalog. His sound has shifted noticeably from album to album, with Smiling With No Teeth leaning industrial and conceptual, Struggler pulling in more funk and jazz influence, and Redstar Wu and the Worldwide Scourge pushing toward synth-punk and politically charged rock.
What is Genesis Owusu’s most popular song?
“Don’t Need You” is widely considered Owusu’s breakout song, earning him early international airplay in 2020 and remaining one of his most streamed tracks. “Gold Chains” and “Leaving The Light” are also frequently cited among his most recognized singles.
How many albums has Genesis Owusu released?
As of 2026, Owusu has released three studio albums: Smiling With No Teeth (2021), Struggler (2023), and Redstar Wu and the Worldwide Scourge (2026), along with the 2017 Cardrive EP and the Missing Molars deluxe edition of his debut.
Did Genesis Owusu win any major awards?
Yes. Smiling With No Teeth won Album of the Year at the ARIA Awards along with additional trophies for Best Hip Hop Release and Best Independent Release, and it also took home the Australian Music Prize.
What is Redstar Wu and the Worldwide Scourge about?
Owusu has described the album as a response to watching global unrest unfold, with press material framing the record as a reflection on the political, social, and economic pressures facing contemporary society. It blends neo soul with alt-pop, synth-punk, deep funk, and Brit rock influences.