Genesis Owusu, Books for Cooks & Agua Fresca 🍉

Weekend Passport 02.31

Passport 02.31

Weekend Passport is Stranger's Guide's weekly subscribers-only newsletter curated by Associate Publisher, Ambia Elias. Each week we bring you globally-inspired recommendations for your weekend activities from the team and friends of Stranger’s Guide.

Listen: Genesis Owusu

This recommendation must be credited to my 19-year-old stepson. He turned me on to Genesis Owusu, a Ghanaian-Australian singer from Canberra whose sophomore album, STRUGGLER, comes out on Aug 18. Owusu's first album, Smiling with No Teeth earned accolades in Australia and beyond, as the artist deftly weaved together rhythms and styles from funk, jazz, folk and hip-hop, to create a concept album that somehow makes you want to dance even as it deals squarely with struggles against depression and anti-Black racism. You can read more about Owusu's artistic approach in this 2021 NME profile, but before you do, be sure to listen to his latest single, "Leaving the Light," that came out in May. It’s on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music, and I've already put it on repeat. 

This recommendation comes from Stranger’s Guide co-founder, Abby Rapoport!