Exposed Vocals sat down with west coast rapper ‘Onwuka’
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Onwuka: What’s poppin’ I’m a rapper. The artist name I go by is Onwuka which is also my last name. I grew up in California. Lived in Monterey, Seaside, San Jose etc.other places pretty close to the Bay area. The first music I fell in love with as a kid was funk. Rick James was the first artist where I sought out every single song he had in existence and listened to and grooved to. Went through a bunch of different music phases which ultimately led to me rapping myself. Before this happened I ended up moving to Wyoming with my family so I would venture to Colorado a lot to see shows growing up. This included indie, electronic, rap, all different kinds. Eventually through listening to different rappers I’d developed my own style as somewhat a fusion of different skills they all have yet done in my own specific way. My inspirations range from Slick Rick, Nas, Snoop, Ice Cube, Chamillionaire, Devin The Dude, OutKast, Ludacris to Rick James, Billy Ocean, Cameo, P-Funk, Bootsy to Tame Impala, Roosevelt and DaM-Funk. There are a ton of others as well I’d like to include but that’s just a good range to show you what genres helped me craft my own.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Onwuka: I’m still learning this process myself. What I can offer as advice is to not give up on songs. You might get some casual negative comment feedback. Never take it to heart too deeply. If you know what you created has passion, hard work, done in a professional manner, never be afraid to push or promote it. The best success I’ve had has been mainly on Twitter and Twitch music submission streams.That’s where I’ve found other musicians and has led to further collaborations. When it comes to shows I would say just try to at least somewhat stay connected in whatever community you are in. If possible try and link up with other artists, share their music etc. Ask them how they share their music be it locally or digitally. Make sure it’s music you actually enjoy, groove to and connect with. See if there are any open mics, house shows, local shows that you can attend and also show that you’re an artist. Some of these to start obviously might not be paid gigs,yet gradually work your way and you’ll be able to get some legitimate shows and get paid for doing something you love.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Onwuka: This definitely has happened to me multiple times and most artists would agree I bet. I’m a rapper so the main thing for us is properly pronouncing words, memorizing lyrics, not running out of breath things like that. I’ve definitely fumbled a word before but the main thing is to keep going and just make sure the next words and lines are done correctly. You could have nerves from the lead up to the show that could be hectic or off which could cause some stress. If you practice consistently I always just fall back on the fact knowing that I’ve written these songs, practiced and performed them over a hundred times to encourage myself if anything like that arises.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Onwuka: This is a very specific thing yet it’s a cool music/ human connection that happened immediately after I got off stage that was really cool to me. So I have a song called Shaman from my upcoming EP with INSMNC. Essentially it’s about my raps being potions and I’m a Shaman that is healing you with my verses in a sense. Right as I got done performing, a man walked up to me and said he was a sort of Shaman like healer and that it really resonated within him and he thought it was a hit. It blew my mind just the crazy instant musical connection that could happen so fast with such a specific niche. I’m Nigerian and into ancestral things of that sort and a Nigerian Shaman is sampled in the song so this was an extremely dope moment to share with someone.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Onwuka: As far as a home studio that is still an option I’m working towards.The first 2 EP’s I recorded were at Chimaera Sound Studios in Loveland. Unfortunately they had to close down temporarily so I had to find a new engineer and studio in the past year. I currently record at Colorado Sound Studios out of Westminster Colorado. I’d highly recommended them. When it comes to production on my tracks the producers I work with have a variety of styles, some use Ableton, some Pro Tools, etc. I always come back to the classic O’Jays line “I love music, any kind of music just as long as it’s groovin’.” So to me it just depends on what they specialize in.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Onwuka: What works best for me is somewhat a mix of different processes. Through Twitter I’ve been able to find various Twitch streams, other musicians’ music threads and playlists that they share with the community. It’s somewhat of a slow grind yet it’s all about connecting with others. Luckily there are individuals that are extremely nice and will add your songs with no cost or monetary gain. Ask other artists what promotion tactics they use and find reputable. When it comes to playlists for upcoming artists of any kind I wouldn’t suggest using the pay for play type. There are other sites where you can find that more so put your music in a queue and if the curators like it they can add to their custom playlists. Such as Playlister.club for example. Those sometimes have monthly subscriptions yet I would prefer using that than the sketchy pay for play ones that end up with all these robo fake plays. There are also free submission ones out there as well, so just make sure to be aware of not going towards the fraudulent promotion accounts that are out and about. People will also make reels out of your songs on Instagram so get into the habit of looking up your songs to see if anyone has and making you own. You can find people with a video of your track and share those. Same thing with TikTok, as well make sure your songs are up and connected to your youtube page. The best out of them all would be bandcamp. I’ve made the most money there so for any artist that you don’t know what it is, set up an account immediately it’s very simple. I’d suggest making an account on any social media you want to interact with and share your music with, sometimes it’s tedious yet you’ll be surprised. Sometimes I’ll make a reel that will lead to someone finding and playing my songs.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Onwuka: Great question and a tough one at the same time. As I said from the start Rick James was my first biggest musical inspiration. In his song Big Time he mentions Carnegie. So for the first performance I’m going with Rick James at Carnegie Hall. Next I’m going to go with a Texas squad of rappers. Texas rap has been a big influence on me and perfecting my flow. For this show I would like to perform with Chamillionaire, Devin The Dude, Z-Ro and UGK. That would be such a legendary cast for myself. Listening to Chamillionaire do freestyles on his Greatest Hits flows when I was younger was how I really learned to experiment with rhyme schemes and changes. Z-Ro with his raw style and harmonies, Devin The Dude with his groovy and playful yet realistic and relatable tunes. And UGK was such a big inspiration for Hip Hop in general and personally I think they never get the dues they deserve. Let’s go with the House of Blues for that one. The 3rd show I’m going to choose would be myself, Big Boi and Andre 3000. Playing with OutKast would be a dream come to life. The way they approached creating G’ yet funky music while keeping it at a deeper level with never sounding condescending or hateful to other generations to me is just one of the perfect mixtures of creativity and hip hop ever seen. As far as the venue I would want that show to be in Nigeria just to make it even more epic. Now for the last show. This time I would like to play with Kevin Parker and Roosevelt with us all 3 playing together at Red Rocks. I’ve gone to Red Rocks so many times. Kevin Parker with Tame Impala or any project he has done has inspired me to rap, dance, funk and jam out so consistently in the last decade or so. Roosevelt was another artist that I found and instantly fell in love with his music. The way he brings harmonies and rhymes together to me is so mystifying and beautiful. Sorry for the length but wanted a funk show, rap ones and an indie slash alternative one if you will.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Onwuka: I have a few projects I’m working on now. I am working on a collab EP with a phenomenal producer himself named INSMNC. It’s called Portals by InsomniWuka and essentially is about us taking the listener to different worlds and themes. For example one track is called Linguistic Kick and is a rapping take on karate films and anime fight moves. Another is called Drip Technique (Pollock) and is centered around Jackson Pollock the painter yet focused on being fresh and stylish. As well I have a couple comic book character based songs in there. I’ve done a few of those in the past and people usually find them fun. A track on Portals is called Last Level based on the feel of the end of a video game. That one was a group effort by INSMNC and Vitelloni music. Vitelloni and INSMNC made it a dark hard tune that I had an idea for immediately. I tend to make a lot of “theme” based songs so INSMNC thought of the name Portals which fit the idea of us working together perfectly.I also have a collab EP with another extremely skilled veteran artist called Xavier. This EP is more old school and soulful whereas Portals is more high tempo bombastic heavy hitting and fast paced. They both have stylistic moments that mirror each other as well though in terms of energy. Finally I’m working on finishing up my first full album Digital Surfin’. The concept behind this was all the collabs that I’m doing with people I’ve met online. A lot of these are electronic based, dark trip hop and indie. Not your typical rapper sound.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Onwuka: If music wasn’t my main focus I would still be doing something centered around writing. I was doing things of that nature before yet transitioned to making music my full priority. I’ve always wanted to write comic books, scheme up elaborate scenes, just any type of creative writing in general. As well I’ve had a desire to do voice work in cartoons and anime. I practice it a bit on the side yet mainly only at a hobby like level. So writing comics or doing voice work would be something I’d greatly be interested in. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to attain doing either of those at least in some type of capacity.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?
Onwuka: My nearest release would be Portals as I mentioned earlier by InsomniWuka. We should be wrapping that up within the next couple of months. I’ll be releasing a song off of Digital Surfin’ in the next month or so called Set Fire to the Hills. It’s a triphop darkwave track produced by another terrific musician Limnetic Villains. I’ve got a few songs in the works with a kind and extremely skilled and hardworking electronic musician named Bizzare Therapy. We recently released a track called GET YO FEET UP. Have a couple tracks with another artist named Boötes on the way. One is based on my hometown Monterey and is an ode to missing your childhood. A fellow rapper named Ambivalent Scene and I will have a song dropping soon so make sure to check for that and him as well. Got a trap-like song, soft electronic song and trip hop song also on the way from my great supporting versatile artist NeuroShokrz.He helps support the online community constantly so a big shout of honor to him. All of these will be on Digital Surfin’, I’ll release some as singles until the full project drops. The project with Xavier should be out around Spring because its vibe and style suit that time of year and we should be all completed before that. Took our time with that one with no stress, just creative ambition. This year and next should be packed with new music from me. Over 20 of these songs have been recorded already. Merely setting up the releases to make sure they are the best and most cohesive they could be for these projects.
Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?
Onwuka: Definitely so many people that help me consistently in different ways. Let’s start with all the musicians that are featured on my upcoming album Digital Surfin’. Make sure to check out all their work. NeuroShokrz, Limnetic Villains, Bizarre Therapy, KwanLiBeats, DDX.EXE. Timmy Clover, INSMNC, Bootes. A shout out to two artists one did a cover for my song God of Mischief (Loki). Her name is cassidypaigeart. Another has done several covers for me. He goes by prints_akeem on IG. I found him through fiverr as zj_prince. His work fits my style effortlessly, looks uncannily like myself in real life.
I’d also like to give a shout out to Zaphodblack and Lucky. They run a twitch stream Courtroom_Media I briefly mentioned earlier which led to me interacting with all of these artists. I’m going to be doing some recording over their production soon which I’m really excited about. And to end a list of artists I’ve found that you should check out and listen to Divinium, Metaphotic, S.I.N., Molly Marie, Yoni Den, Liquid Modern, Ben Wilkinson, Omniscient Art, Megazillion, Julie Outrage, Roderiko Pop,I’m like the blue rose and nodding off, The Glow of Streetlights, Luci Waves, Dusty Grant, DA TENGU GOD, KARMAA, Moistule and many more! To cap it off a salute to my Mom, my cat King, Funk and specifically Dam-Funk himself! Rap, Nigeria and any type of creative spark I see in any type of medium that helps me want to add to and do my own in the world.
