‘On The SpotLight’ this week we have Kzn based music producer / deejay ‘OU’. Already with a ‘banging track’ featured on ‘House Afrika Sessions 8 compilation album’ under his belt and with his latest release hand-picked for ‘Surreal Sounds Within Da Beats Project’. We had to have him ‘On The SpotLight’…
ShoMag: Thank you for taking some time out for us. Can we start off by asking who is ‘OU’ and where is he from?
OU: ‘OU’ is a self-taught deep house and electronic music producer and deejay, from the lower parts of KZN, born and raised in Empangeni in a township called Enseleni, and ‘I’m a music enthusiast’.
ShoMag: You started your ‘musical journey’ back in 2014, was music something you always wanted to be a part of and how has the journey been so far for you?
OU: It has been even before I started making my own music I was always fascinated by the idea of ‘putting together different sounds to make one complete record’ and be able to share it with the rest of the world. The journey has been filled with learning experiences so as to make me discover my own unique sound, it’s been a learning experience.
ShoMag: When did you notice that you had ‘passion for music’ and out of all the ‘music genres’ one can pick from, why choose ‘house music’?
OU: My passion for music started way back when we used to listen to the ‘Urban Beat on Metro FM’, my twin brother and I used to record mixtapes on cassettes and listen to them afterwards when the show had ended on the day.
Another person who fuelled my love for house music was my older brother who was and still is a very big fan of the craft, he used to buy ‘House Afrika and Soul Candi’ music come home and play it to us and that whole experience ‘embedded a very deep love for house music’ and later on the years I then decided to make my own music and share it with the masses.
ShoMag: What is your role within ‘House Music’, would you say you are a ‘House Music Producer or a House Music Deejay’? Maybe do you occupy both spaces?
OU: I actually occupy both spaces because from the very beginning ‘the idea was to make music’, share it with the people and with sharing it comes the part where I have to perform my own music.
ShoMag: Where do you draw inspiration from and is there any particular musician/s you look up too and why?
OU: I wouldn’t say there is a particular person that I look up to but I do have people that are still implanting that deep foundation of love for house music and making me want to improve my craft to name a few ‘Sizz, Frits Wentink, Ian Pooley, David August and Stimming’.
My inspiration comes from different sounds or I would say different genres of music because I don’t only listen to house music, I also explore ‘different genres of music just to draw inspiration’.
ShoMag: ‘Music is a very challenging and highly competitive industry’ just as any other industry out there. What would you say is your biggest challenge when it comes to the music industry?
OU: That’s true and on my side I would speak for the house music industry so to say, the talent that’s out there is so vast and undiscovered. The problem is that the industry is big and there are ‘no mechanisms or systems put in place to discover new talent’ so as to showcase to the public as they are hungry for new and fresh ideas.
ShoMag: A lot of us out there might not be aware that you have a track compiled on ‘House Afrika’s compilation album ‘House Afrika Sessions 8’. How did that come about?
OU: ‘The House Afrika compilation’ came about with the EP I released with an international label from London ‘Atal Music’ and the EP is called ‘Laser Clutch’ and it was the first ever EP I released in my music career last year in 2017 when I first came in the game. The EP gained me so much attention and was even recognized by ‘Tim White’ and I got an email from the label informing me that ‘House Afrika’ wants to compile my track, so that’s basically how it happened.
ShoMag: Recently ‘Surreal Sounds’ rolled out their ‘Within Da Beats’ project and you are also part of that ‘banging project’. Care to tell us more about your release titled ‘If I Had To Kill You’, who did you work with and what can we expect from that offering?
OU: The track ‘If I had to kill you’ features a good friend of mine who is a poet, we met way back in 2016. I had this idea of making a ‘spoken word house music song’ and luckily he happened to be someone I knew who had to skill to bring the record into existence and I told him about the idea and he showed me some material he had and I happened to be touched by the one ‘if I had to kill you’.
That song has a ‘very deep and powerful message going out to all the women’ who are going through a rough time say, a break up or just having that losing any hope in finding or trying to love again. The message is delivered in a very poetic way which makes your mind pay close attention to the words.
ShoMag: Having had such an amazing 2017. What is instore for us this year from ‘OU’, are there any musical projects you are currently working on for 2018 or on the pipeline?
OU: This year I have a lot that I’m working on and I’ll be dropping more and more music as the year goes. I’ve just released a single track with ‘Surreal Sounds titled Subtle Decap’ and there’s also a collabo I did with ‘Sizz’ for his Allias name the track is titled ‘Guy Gibbons-Psycho(OU&Sizz Remix)’ and I will be dropping a collabo EP with ‘Sizz’ on the ‘Atal Music label’ and there is a remix package of ‘If I had to kill you part.01 and part.02’ coming out in May and June.
ShoMag: Closing it off, what would be your final message to some ‘young talented bedroom producer’ who is trying to crack open into House Music Industry? Let’s face it, they have a huge role to play and House Music is in their hands.
OU: To a young talented bedroom producer I would say ‘I’ve been where you are and the only thing that you need to do is believe in yourself, believe in your craft and put in the time and effort’. Don’t complain about not having sophisticated equipment, work with what you have.
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