First Listen: oogie 'Kanye Me'

oogie, is a London-based artist who self-experiments with different sounds to create an authentic refreshing and bright style which is what stunned New Wave as we were introduced to him through his latest track ‘Kayne Me’. We caught up via a Zoom call in the comfort of our own homes, talking about the influence of controversial figure Kayne West, what oogie listens to day-to-day and how “KANYE ME" was formed.   

“I’m deep into the likes of Earl Sweatshirt and Wickie. If you go into that whole rabbit hole of, I suppose, alternative, UK wise, Jessie James Solomon and Bawo are up there. I suppose their style is calmer and more introspective. I guess this (“KANYE ME") is an introspective song as well but it’s down in a funnier way.

The track is deep but can easily be distracted by oogie departing from his typical lo-fi instrumentals for a groovier take which is reflected in the feel of the instrumental experimenting with percussion, smooth brass notes and light xylophone-infused tones throughout. It also comes as the first single from his upcoming EP titled phew due in March.

The Initial reaction

“I had made quite a few super personal, and I think the best word is, insular, songs. Tracks that I and a few people around me were getting but I was with my engineer and a few producers I work with and everyone thought we needed something that sounded a bit more expansive on stage and a bit less depressing, with a bit more funk and upbeat.

Explaining his reasoning for wanting a more rhythmic production, he explains, “Even though I am a massive fan of Earl Sweatshirt and all those similar-sounding guys and I went to their show a few years ago. Obviously, I know all the lyrics, so I’m just there vibing with everything he’s saying but more so I’m there watching everyone stand around and kind of like sway and I’ve always kind of felt that when I’m on stage I never necessarily want people to just stand and sway.  

"I want vibe you know. I was basically trying to see if I could take the DNA of the vibe by being honest and truthful, and still add a melody to get someone to participate and be like, yeah, oh that’s happening right now.”      

Artist perception

“To put it in a simple one line or sentence, the idea was to use culture’s love/hate relationship with Kayne West as a metaphor for a love/hate relationship with myself. Kind of like a therapy."

"I was trying to break myself down all of the negative things that I was doing that was stopping my progress and trying to cancel that part of myself a little bit to push myself forward. That essential is what the song is about.”  

Going deeper into his appreciation for Kayne West he shares, “Late Registration is my favourite album and I think the first vinyl that I ever got. He also listed College Dropout and Life of Pablo as two of the five albums that can be found in his “Mount Rushmore of albums.” 

Visuals

 These references are also evident in the accompanying visuals to ‘Kayne Me’, directed by Louis Lincoln. The video unfolds to the various artwork covers of Kayne West throughout the years.   

“I’m happy you picked that out! We tried to make it as clear as possible."

Continuing he explains, “Initially I wanted to do the whole idea in a restaurant with different phases of Kayne kind of meeting each other on a weird date kind of thing but a guy called Louis Lincoln, he’s a wavy director, he kind of took it and thought out of the box and expanded it.   

"I’m a super visual person and I like throwing things out there that realistically I know budget-wise is physically impossible." Such as shooting a full video on film.  

“But he (Lincoln) messed with the song so he put some of his own funds into it instead and mentioned he wanted to do it in this particular way, and I was like alright, if that’s what you're on! Let’s do it.”

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