From his humble beginnings in The Bronx to the lush grasslands of Ghana, OG Picasso is a rising star in today’s Afrobeats milieu and is more than resolute about making his presence known.
As chief progenitor for what he describes as the “Tempoh,” Picasso’s sound is exuberant, vivacious and replete with good vibes and positive energy.
Colliding sonic elements of Afrobeats and Trap, Picasso prides himself on being a leading figure in the cultivation of a newfound genre: Afro-Trap.
Teaming up with Gelatto, who is the second half of the Afrobeats duo: G-Tempoh, they’ve been able to develop a strong international following. On YouTube, their first massive hit “Mottoh,” has amassed over 20K views and counting.
Their latest release: Welcome to TrapAfrica, which was shot on the real-life streets of Kumasi, Ghana, was released in early December. So far, it’s already gained over 10K views on YouTube.
In addition to his passion for creating musical vibration, Picasso dabbles in a litany of creative endeavors, some of which include modeling, photography and being the chief creative director for a Korean streetwear brand: Smoke Rise New York.
Being Ghanaian-American himself, Picasso is a major proponent for the unification of the African continent. He hopes to provide a conduit for that through his music.
With only four years in the game, OG Picasso has already covered a lot of ground with so much untapped potential still waiting to be unleashed.
Before reaching his ultimate apex, JaJuan Malachi of The Knockturnal was fortunate enough to speak with him about his origins, the AfroTrap movement, upcoming developments, his vision for the future of music in Africa and much more.
Here’s how the conversation played out:
JaJuan Malachi: So for those out there who aren’t familiar with OG Picasso just yet, tell us about your background?
OG Picasso: Well, I’m an African artist. My name is OG Picasso. I go by OG Picasso. My family is from Ghana. I grew up in the Bronx. My dad is a chief. He became chief when I was like seven, so he was away from me. Growing up, I didn’t really get to see him like that. As I got older though, I got to actually go to Ghana and to see what he’s been doing and everything. I kind of understand why he wasn’t there. I grew up playing ball. I guess that’s the narrative for the average Black kid in The Bronx. Don’t get me wrong, I was cooking but yeah. A few years ago, I got into music with my best friend Gelatto.
JaJuan Malachi: Oh word, what year?
OG Picasso: Probably like 2018. Yeah, we always used to freestyle and eventually, we were like yo! Let’s take it seriously. We formed a group called “G-Tempoh.” I’m one half of that group and we’ve been keeping it going ever since.
JaJuan Malachi: Dope! So what type of music do y’all specialize in?
OG Picasso: We specialize in Afrobeats, Rap, R&B, Pop. We’re very diverse but we mainly focus on Afrobeats.
JaJuan Malachi: Gotcha! We love to see it! So for my next question, what is the AfroTrap movement and how’d you first discovered the genre?
OG Picasso: Well I grew up in the genre a little bit. I grew up in the old roots of Hiplife, like Ghana Hiplife. That was like, older African music that my parents listened to, you know. And Trap. Since I come from the Bronx, you know where Hip-Hop was created, I naturally gravitated towards it. It just became a movement. It’s like getting your roots back. You know, there’s like a lot of Africans in the Bronx and in New York in general. It’s very diverse but there are a lot of Ghanaians where I live. The fusion was kind of inevitable.
JaJuan Malachi: So how does it feel to be a member of the first frontier of the AfroTrap movement in general? That’s actually pretty dope.
OG Picasso: It feels great! I feel like I’m a born leader. I’m going to be very honest with you but I feel like I really love being apart of it because I feel like I get to push it as far as I can. I get to move it the way I want to move it. I even created a niche movement called TrapAfrica – The “Trap” stands for “Those Representing African Prosperity.” So, you know, African Prosperity is very important to me. I feel like it’s really the only place where we’re not persecuted. Where we can actually be home and we don’t have to really deal with racism. When you go home, no one is really looking at you crazy. You can’t do that in Europe. You can’t really do that in America. Even in South America, they probably look at you differently if you’re a little too Dark. Ghana is where I feel home. That’s where my people are from and that’s where I feel like we should all build as a people.
JaJuan Malachi: I’ve never been to Ghana before but I’m a huge proponent for solidarity myself. I’m sure I’ll find my way there. Who would you say are some of your biggest influences, music-related or otherwise?
OG Picasso: A lot of great leaders, of course. I’m gonna be frank. I’ve gotta say Kanye is a big influence. I feel like I respect and admire his craziness. Because you know, people have always tried to put him in a box and everyone always tries to say something but I would never take advice from people who aren’t where I wanna be. He never does that and that’s what I respect most about him. Um, who else? Akon! I really respect Akon for what he does. He really came up out here in the U.S. but he really went back to his own country and started really developing like.
JaJuan Malachi: Oh, word! Senegal right?
OG Picasso: Yes, Senegal and other countries around there. I really respect that. I also wanna do something like that on an even larger scale.
JaJuan Malachi: What do you think about like, Saint Jhn and WizKid?
OG Picasso: Saint Jhn? I f**k with Saint Jhn. He’s hard. His whole rockstar aesthetic. His grind.I actually read about how he came up. He was like a writer, trying to write for Rihanna and everything and no one was really jacking him like that but he kept going. He linked up with Big Spark and he really went in. And WizKid, you know, he’s just a legend. He’s been doing this since, as far as I can remember. He’s worked with so many Ghanaian artists. Of course, I grew up hearing so much of his music before Nigerian music really became mainstream out here, you know because he’s already worked with so many African legends.
JaJuan Malachi: So now he’s pretty much just reaping the harvest of his labor pretty much.
OG Picasso: Yep! And he’s keeping it going and that’s what I really respect about him. He’s putting other people on the map and he’s putting his country on his back.
JaJuan Malachi: Hm, I feel that! So, I’m curious to know. What does your creative process look like? Does that entail you just being still in a quiet space or does that entail teaming up with some of your homeboys, bumping some music and catching an organic vibe? Describe that a bit for us?
OG Picasso: Recently, I’ve been linking up with a mixture of artists and producers in Brooklyn or Queens. Before, when I first got started, we would find a beat on YouTube or whatever but nowadays, I’m in the studio, I’m with the producer and we’re making the beat and the song from scratch in that order. I love to rap but truthfully, I don’t even write that much anymore. I really like to get in the moment. Like, I write after starting the beat production and while we’re creating the beat, step by step. Now, my songs are more organic. They are really written for the song.
JaJuan Malachi: So like the production and sort of like the songwriting process now go in tandem?
OG Picasso: Yeah, they’re more intertwined now.
JaJuan Malachi: So, now I really wanna know something. You’ve got some much going on. I mean, as a musician, a model, a creative director for a growing clothing brand and more, you do quite a bit. What is the motivation behind your hunger and how do you manage to execute on everything you touch?
OG Picasso: I wake up and want to see my dreams come to fruition. I want to be the highest selling and most influential artist on the African continent. I want to be an amazing performance artist in the arts (music, acting, fashion.) I want to go on a European music tour, an African music tour, and a worldwide music tour. I want to see the world and connect with its people. That’s what fuels my hunger.
JaJuan Malachi: So to my knowledge, you took a trip to Ghana sometime earlier this year. What was the purpose of that trip and how has it impacted your musical pursuits?
OG Picasso: Truthfully, it’s changed everything for me. The reason I went out there is because I have this song called “Welcome To TrapAfrica,” which I wrote when I was in Ghana like two years ago. And I was listening to the song during the pandemic and like, I just had a vision. I was like “oh, it was Africa.” Like I had to make the video in Africa. It’s crazy because I was talking to one of my childhood friends: Walter. I did a music video in London before the pandemic. When we were talking, he was like “yo, you gotta go do a video in Africa, what’s going on?”
Then after that, I got the tickets like a week later. I was like “yo, f**k it.” I wanna produce this s**t. Honestly, it’s changed everything because whenever I talk to people, I feel like it gives me a different level of credibility. Like “No, I’m not just any ole’ rapper from the Bronx.” I’m an international artist, I’m an international superstar. Like this is the beginning. This is what I did. You see this.
JaJuan Malachi: So, you’re adamant about showing more so than telling pretty much.
OG Picasso: I’m able to show. Because you know, we all tell but like, you’ve gotta show.
JaJuan Malachi: I mean for anyone who looks at your instagram, the content is there. It’s undeniable. The production is there. The musical prowess is there.
OG Picasso: Yeah, there’s this thing about Instagram that I really like. There’s a lot of content creators. I’m not a content creator. I really just use Instagram to document the stuff I do in real life.
*Mutual laughter*
OG Picasso: It’s not like I’m doing this for Instagram. A lot of people got that backwards. Like they do stuff for Instagram when you really should just be doing things in real life. And then use Instagram to document your process.
JaJuan Malachi: I got you! So it’s not performative, it’s just truly, genuinely you.
OG Picasso: Yeah! Real Life S**t.
JaJuan Malachi: That’s what’s up! So Afrobeats, now perhaps more than ever, wields a high level of appeal never before seen within the genre. What do you think about the future of it and what role do you plan to play?
OG Picasso: Alright so, current Afro-beats are really led by Ghana and Nigeria, so West Africa. South Africa is really coming up in the scene. They have a genre called Amapiano. Recently, I’ve been studying music from West Africa, East Africa, South Africa, West North Africa and Central Africa to get a more well rounded sound that’s not really based on the mainstream of Ghana and Nigeria. After awhile, certain things get repetitive because you know people get influenced by what they are surrounded by. Even with rap and drill music, everyone listens to drill music, so most people aren’t making drill music now. I feel like if you really wanna be a great artist, you have to study every aspect of the genre that you’re in. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’m creating a sound that’s gonna be a combination of all of them.
JaJuan Malachi: That’s super dope! So you’re just like coalescing different influences from the various regions within Africa overall and sort of just bringing them together.
OG Picasso: Yeah, I wanna go on an Africa tour. I wanna hit every single country, every island, every province. I want everyone to feel like there’s a little piece of me in every performance wherever I go.
JaJuan Malachi: The general aesthetic of your videos are super visceral and free-flowing. Walk us through the mindset behind your latest video: Tempoh Tantrum? It seemed like a lot of fun to shoot. It seemed like y’all were going crazy living life. Really painting a picture for people who’ve never been there before. Walk us through the logistics behind that and how you brought it all together.
OG Picasso: Well you know the name, it’s “Tempoh Tantrum.” You know it’s a high tempo, it’s going MAD! So in the video, we’ve got dancers. I’ve got my family. I’ve got a bunch of other dancers in there. I’ve got kid dancers. We’re just going crazy. Like, I was f**king chasing goats up in the video. You know why, because I’m a GOAT. Forreal though, it was fun. It was an experience. I really wanted to show how vibrant African dance and African beats are and how it really creates a different type of energy where it’s high paced and you can just go up. When you think about Hip-Hop, beats that were created early on. Most of that originated in Africa. I got to the roots and I just kept up the Tempoh. I’m apart of G-Tempoh, so we had to make the Tempoh go mad.
JaJuan Malachi: That’s fire. I think it was very high energy. High octane spirits going on in the video. It just made me wanna go out there and be a part of the movement.
OG Picasso: When they say, “why don’t you go back to Africa?” Yeah, you should go back.
JaJuan Malachi: I think it combated a lot of the ill-conceived notions we have about Africa in general and I think the portrayal of it was against the grain of what we’re used to here in America at least. So since getting started in this industry, what is some of the best advice you’ve received thus far?
OG Picasso: Be yourself and build yourself. Truthfully, a lot of people get too caught up in trying to find themselves. We don’t know who we are. We just came here on this planet. You get to choose who you are. You get to see different things about yourself. I like this about myself, I’m going to keep it. Oh, I like this sound, I’m gonna add it to my music. I like this look. Imma add it to my fashion. You get to build yourself. Music is a process where you build it. Even when I build it with my producer, we start it with a sound. You start with yourself, how you were raised and build it step by step.
JaJuan Malachi: Do you recall who told you this?
OG Picasso: It’s a process that I discovered. I actually don’t remember.
*mutual laughter*
JaJuan Malachi: For my final question, I wanted to know as we enter a new year: 2022, these last couple of years have been kind of hectic with the advent of COVID, our supply chain crisis, people getting trampled at Travis Scott’s concert, you know all types of things. I’m curious to know: what are the next steps for O.G. Picasso, G-Tempoh and just the AfroTrap movement overall? What do you have in the works? What do you have in the inventory that you plan on dropping soon?
OG Picasso: I’m keeping up the tempoh’ man. Stepping on the gas. I’ve got a personal album coming out with one of my producers: Mike Ruiz. I got a G-Tempoh album coming out. I’m going back to Ghana in December to really like to create more and really build on the connections that I’ve made. Like last time I went, I was chilling with Michael Blackson’s cousin, next time I’m going to be chilling with Michael Blackson. I’m just gonna keep it going. I feel like the pandemic year really allowed me to really hone in and really see who I wanted to be. This year has allowed me to build the foundation of who I am. And next year, I’m going to f**king explode.
JaJuan Malachi: Alright bet, we’ll we’re here for it. I can’t wait to see what fruits come out of this next level.
OG Picasso: Thank you fam for having me!
For more of his content, follow OG Picasso on Instagram.
