Ohzhe is a rapper-songwriter from Albany, NY. He’s been releasing music for over a decade, detailing his life experiences and perspectives with a diverse flow and moving production.
Last fall, I had the opportunity to participate in the Concepts & Colors program at the South End of Albany’s own Youth FX, where students across the Capital Region collaborated, brainstormed, produced & directed a music video. We had the choice of some of Ohzhe’s songs, but unanimously decided on his 2023 single ‘SPEAK’.
Prior to this, I hadn’t heard of Ohzhe. This sentiment was shared by my peers and in my opinion this aspect made the experience of the program all the better. It allowed me to discover and immerse myself in the genuine artistry that exists within my own community. I had never known of any local rappers here in Albany, and over the course of the program I grew more and more appreciative of the Concepts & Colors Program.
We filmed the video in December just before winter break. During post-production of the music video, I got to have a conversation with Ohzhe about his artistry, career, and ambitions for the future.
[Jadyn H.] So, what’s going on? How were your holidays?
[Ohzhe] My holidays were.. They were good. Uhh, I got to get presents for the family. I mean, you know, trials and tribulations. I’ve been practicing gratitude for where I’m at.
[Jadyn H.] Fire. That’s nice.
[Ohzhe] So what about You?
[Jadyn H.] It was good. I was in Ghana, it was nice. I met some family. We chilled out, went to a lot of beaches and stuff. It was a great experience, man.
[Ohzhe] Nice.
[Jadyn H.] How did you get started as an artist?
[Ohzhe] How?
[Jadyn H.] How did you get started as an artist?
[Ohzhe] I started off with creative writing when I was in, like, 7th grade. You know, I would create stories here and there – just to get into the habit of writing. It eventually became like, just being around – You know how in the ‘90s everybody was always listening to good music so I got put on to like 2Pac, Biggie, and just whatever my Dad or my mom was playing I was tappin’ in to. And, you know, I wanted to dig deeper into being a writer as like that type of way. I ended up finding a 2Pac book where he had, like, [..] inside and it was like–It kinda changed my perspective on writing and I learned to do poetry. Once I did that, after I started listening to beats and stuff. But, I just couldn’t find any instrumentals, but what I did have was these old CDs of DJs putting different songs together, mixing them up. As I got older, went to school with my friends, rapping, doing beat takes and giving people these beat tapes. I recorded my first song with my boy David, and my boys David and Trell, they were older than me, and David told him of a friend who had a studio.
[Jadyn H.] Oh cool.
[Ohzhe] When we got there, the “studio” was just a handheld mic hanging on a radiator with a sock over it for acoustics or something. It was interesting, I didn’t have any idea of what a studio was.
[Jadyn H.] Mmm.
[Ohzhe] I recorded my first song called “Long Summer Nights.” I fell in love with my voice, I decided this is what I wanna do. Mainly, I was just trying to emulate the people that I aspire to be like around that time. Just a lot of 2000’s music. Down South was boomin. That ATL Sound, the Franchise Boys, Lil Jon. And Albany was like a mixing pot of different cultures and I feel like a lot of the music out here was like Midwestern or Southern.
[Jadyn H.] That’s interesting.
[Ohzhe] I was inspired, just doing what I thought was the right thing to do as an artist. I ended up having this weird management thing going on when I was like 16-17 in high school.
[Jadyn H.] Oh?
[Ohzhe] And the dude who wanted to manage me he ended up having me come to the studio to record. And I had recorded like a whole album with him, but he kinda like took off with the music. Never heard of it, I never seen the music I recorded. I was a kid and it kinda turned off from music and it gave me large trust issues when it comes to building relationships in music. And I don’t think I ever healed from that. [laughs]
[Jadyn H.] Mmm.
[Ohzhe] I dont think I ever healed from that disappointment. Because I thought that I was doing the right thing by putting my trust in people.
[Jadyn H.] Do you think that you find that this still manifests itself in your life now as far as music? Do you think this affects you professionally?
[Ohzhe] Yeah. Highkey. I don’t .. wanna say I have a distrust with people but I will say it is hard for me to open up with people, and when I do there’s always something that gets thrown back in my face. And I mean sometimes it don’t. Sometimes I catastrophize things by nature, just to do that based on my own environment. I just jump straight to the bad things that could happen now. Yeah, you could say that.
[Jadyn H.] And what would you say that music has done for you personally?
[Ohzhe] Music has opened doors that I ain’t even know existed, bro, like I’m going to just be honest with you. All my relationships I’ve built in Albany and the Capital Region has been through music. Whether it’s events, or the library or people. Wherever I’m at music follows me. Music follows me. It changed my life to the point where like I know that if I go to another place I can succeed and build and do the same thing I’m doing here but better.
[Jadyn H.] Oh.
[Ohzhe] I feel like I’m still in a process of acquiring the skill set to make me more of a, i don’t know, just doing what I’m supposed to do. Its taking time though. I hope I answered your question correctly.
[Jadyn H.] How do you think your music and your creative process has impacted your life overall? If you wanna expand on that?
[Ohzhe] It made an impact on my life. That’s a really good question. It impacted my life in a great way. But I Feel like as I got older, I haven’t really been able to enjoy the way I thought I would be able to enjoy when I was like pursuing it. Because now I feel like everything is more like a transactional thing instead of a creative thing. Or maybe, maybe not. Maybe not. It’s, i don’t know, it’s so many layers. We went through COVID and I was tryna find a way to make some money and like it’s now.. I feel like making music about.. Although d I know that’s the whole purpose but. Just playing the devil’s advocate against myself, and pursuing music to do what you love and to get paid for it is the ultimate goal right?
[Jadyn H.] Yeah.
[Ohzhe] Like, who doesn’t wanna get paid to do the things they wanna do? But eventually, as times go on you start to get worn out of the idea of big success. Like I don’t know what success is gonna look like. I don’t know if I’ll have enough success to help the people I love, you know? Music has changed my life and… I don’t know, man, I’m tryna multitask right now I’m driving and talking at the same time.
[Jadyn H.] [laughs] Yeah. Okay. And, how did you get your artist name? Where does ‘Ohzhe’ come from?
[Ohzhe] It actually came from my actual name: Ozzy Mandias. People just don’t.. And it’s weird because I thought that if I shortened the name people would spell it right but it kind of made it worse because people still spell it wrong. [laughs]
[Jadyn H.] [laughs]
[Ohzhe] Basically, I was going by my actual name, but people would say the name wrong and it would irritate me and I kinda got insecure about it. SO i figured I changed it off an emotional-based thing, like make that my name. Yeah. Sometimes people get at me about that. “Why did you change your name? You shouldn’t’ve changed your name?”
[Jadyn H.] And what were your initial goals for music when you first started out?
[Ohzhe] To be famous.
[Jadyn H.] Okay.
[Ohzhe] As a kid, I just wanted to be famous. I just wanted to be seen and heard in any way, shape, or form. I wanted to express myself through music and for people to feel what I was trying to say. Whether it be through making a lyrical song or making a love song or making a this type of song. I wanted to create a feeling through me and the audience. But as a kid, i wanted to be the next 50 Cent. I want to be him. But it got to the point, he was playing a different game. He was in the streets, I was not in the streets. I’m not a street type of person. His source of income come different. I won’t say it’s easier because they gotta put their life on the line for certain things, but it’s just a different type of hustle that I never really got to tap in to. I was putting so much energy into being a creative and hoping someone would pick me up and be like “Hey, you are a star. Let me help you get through all the things you need to get through.” But as I got older, I realized that I have to be-I can’t be dependent on people I have to depend on myself. I wanna try things just me.
[Jadyn H.] Do you think there’s anything that explicitly influenced that initial goal that changed it, that made it change form or switch over the course of your career?
[Ohzhe] That changed it?
[Jadyn H.] I mean, how do you think that goal of wanting to be famous changed over the course of your career. I know you said that as you got older it changed from wanting to be saved to wanting to express yourself. But how did that change? How did that change form? Just tell me more about that. I hope that makes sense.
[Ohzhe] Nah, I get what you’re tryna say. How did I get to the point of realizing “Desire and purpose and the line between that.”
[Jadyn H.] Yeah.
[Ohzhe] For me, it was realizing that being an inspiration is more important than being famous. I went to this.. Ha, and it’s so weird ‘cause I will always remember this thing. But, I lived at Albany Barn for like a couple years and every now and then, like every 6 months, you would have to do check-ins with people to talk about the things that you’re accomplishing and the things you have going on. And at that time, I had just left the library I was working at. But I still wanted to run my music program. I met with this woman and she said, “You know you can’t do both. You’re gonna have to pick one, but you can’t do both.” And what she meant that I could choose to be the star, be the mean person and focus on me being me and doiing music the way I wanna do music. Or I could be the person to help people or to become the artist that they wanna be. Umm, the problem, though, was that I feel like the generation now don’t really care about what you’re saying they care about what you’re doing. And why would someone want to take advice from anyone who hasn’t even saw their truest potential.
[Jadyn H.] Oh.
[Ohzhe] And a lot of kids believe in me. I still stay in contact with those I’ve had an effect on. They’ll send me songs and we’ll build, we’ll talk and have conversations. I get critical on myself ‘cause I should have been there. I should have been where I was supposed to be. But, I wasn’t on top of my P’s and Q’s like I should have been. But I’m over critical on myself, and it’s like my mind deviated from “I wanna be famous. I wanna do this or do that.” But as I get older, i just really wanna put out an album. I wanna put out a really good album. I just want to get respect for the music I put out. And, I feel like I spent so much time trying to make everyone else happy when it comes to making my music. And it’s not like anyone is telling me to do this, but I feel like I gotta please people’s needs or they won’t care for me. Like, I have to please people or they won’t listen to my music. Like I have to do certain things that I know I don’t want to do to make people happy. But that’s something that I’m learning with myself. A lot of [laughs] peeling layers these last couple of months. I’ve just been doing a lot of self-reflecting and that’s probably where it stems from.
[Jadyn H.] Earlier you mentioned your work at the library and with kids. What would you say that community means to you?
[Ohzhe] Community means everything. When you’re in the community with certain things and stuff like that, and it becomes draining. I’m drowning with you, and there’s other people drowning around. And it’s like “I can’t help you. I’m drowning too.” Community, to me, means that.. We’re nothing without each other. We can’t do anything without community. We’re nothing without each other. It doesn’t matter what kind of community you’re building. As long as it’s fruitful for you, and that the community you’re in is working for you and isn’t causing harm to other communities. There should be an influx of ti. We should be trying to build a community instead of breaking it down.
[Jadyn H.] Yeah, I agree.
[Ohzhe] I don’t know. Its deep, I guess.
[Jadyn H.] How would you describe yourself as an artist?
[Ohzhe] That’s a great question. I’ve been trying to figure that out lately. ‘Cause a lot of music from my past, like I was going through my old music and I was not really proud of it except for a couple songs. But I feel like it’s an artist thing to say. “Uh oh, stuff is trash..” But people love it.
[Jadyn H.] [laughs]
[Ohzhe] But people love it. The type of artist I am now. Definitely, like an inspirational .. or an original artist. I try to focus on being positive and being the best version of yourself. And being vulnerable about things and transparency in your music. I’m the artist that you listen to when you need to wake up. I’m the type of artist you listen to on the walk home. I can pretty much do anything, too. I just haven’t been pushing myself out of my comfort zone in the past couple of months when it comes to my music. I don’t know what message I want to convey. I just don’t know where I’m at musically now. So like, I don’t know. I think I’m gonna keep changing the type of artist I am. Couple months ago, last year you asked me this and I said “I am a conscious artist.”
[Jadyn H.] Yeah, I remember that.
[Ohzhe] Because I change over time, I’m not gonna say.. Like I’m not gonna speak on certain topics, but I’m just trying to figure that out for myself too. Still.
Stay tuned for part 2 of our interview with Ohzhe coming next week!
Growth Ep. Ohzhe. 2019
