Downtown mainstay Ohara released a funk-fueled vocal recording named “Nasty,” a snarky rendition of late-night charm earlier this week.
To document the creative process, he brought along ultra-talented photographer Felice Trinidad. Their mesh of a disjointed downtown Toronto paired with the immediate energy of collective NMBR.IV is a good recipe for creative subversion in a town full of legendary music tales. Theirs is a snapshot of what it felt like to be alive this winter: a raw urgency to the moment that is both magnetic and honest.
When asked about the motivation behind making a song like this, he’s pensive “…i come from a place where art imitates real life, not where real life imitates art. What you see is what you get. My father was in a pretty widely recognized band in the late 70’s/early 80s, so that’s the environment that I was conceived in, directly relating to where I am today.”
Ohara can be a bit evasive when poked but if you get him talking about the city his motivations begin to show a cultural double-helix, “I remember seeing Kwajo (one of the founders of Ghetto Concept) at their first video shoot and was excited to see that the old-school and new-school could come together in the city. The band, Capital Stacks, ended up taking a hiatus from music for one reason or another but were drawn back into creating with Julian Cruz for his solo debut ‘Black Hearts’. I remember sitting in the studio on the southwest corner of Dundas & Carlaw with everybody for the release that night and realizing how real this could all be.”
Ohara is courteous, consistently asking and consulting with his inner crew about direction. In Toronto, there’s no shortage of success stories and affiliates that often tend to power up overnight. In describing a seemingly random encounter, Ohara is able to recall note-worthy tidbits that add texture to his narrative, especially when they involve producer Murda Beatz and his manager Cory Litwin : “I got into the city’s nightlife scene helping throw parties with Cory, fast forward 4 years i’m at Metalworks Studios with him Murda Beatz and Sickamore and the realization was that we weren’t ready for the opportunity that had just landed in our laps. They were in the process of forming Murda Gang, while our focus wasn’t yet 100%. We left the session with a lot of inspiration, it brought a period of reassessment to my craft and what I wanted to convey with my art. ”
At its core, Ohara’s new music is very much a funky personal catharsis of sorts and when asked to describe it, he’s oddly in-line with that mantra: “this song especially is rooted in the lifestyle and energy from myself and those around me. One part anthem, one part inner dialogue, and one partial answer.”
Follow Ohara on Instagram.
Photos by Felice Trinidad
