Osunlade Music

[Quinton Hebenstreit]

Osunladewas born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.[3] He composed music for Sesame Street during the late 1980s and early 1990s.[4] Afterward, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he worked with artists such as Patti LaBelle and Freddie Jackson. After a stint there, he moved to New York, where he founded Yoruba Records because of "the continued need to create the music I wanted".[5] To date he has worked with such artists as Roy Ayers, Nkemdi, Salif Keita, Porangu, and Cesria vora. In 2006, he released an album titled Aquarian Moon, in 2007, he released an album titled Elements Beyond on the revived Strictly Rhythm Records, and, in 2009, he released the album Passage. He is a priest of the Yoruba religion of If. Because of his beliefs, Osunlade's music has a deep spiritual root in Yoruba traditions that are also reflected in the name of his record label, album covers, and also the titles of some of the tracks he has remixed such as "Obatala y Oduduwa" and "Yemeya."

In July 2023, Osunlade posted a video on his Facebook page[6] regarding trans rights, expressing that "4000+ kids transitioning in the States alone is alarming". In August 2023, it was reported that Osunlade was removed from the line-up of All Together Now festival owing to his stance on trans rights.[7] He further went on saying he "was wrong then" about the COVID vaccines and now "there are 8 million people that are damaged or dead because of that". He further said there's a global "depopulation agenda". He received backlash in September 2023, when he was dropped[8][9] from the lineup of the long-running Harvest festival in Ontario, Canada.

Osunlade has been immersed in music since he was a child. His upbringing in St. Louis, Missouri, filled his mind with jazz, blues, and soul. At a young age, he discovered that music was his calling. He learned to play the piano at age seven and taught himself how to play the drums, bass, and guitar by the time he was twelve. Soon he found his voice and started writing his own songs.

Today, his musical style combines house music, funk, jazz, soul, r&b, and world music which has earned him worldwide acclaim. In addition to being an accomplished DJ, Osunlade has worked with a long list of high-profile collaborators. He has released more than 20 albums and countless singles, including collaborations with Roy Ayers, Patti Labelle, Salif Keita, and Cesaria Evora among others.

One of the most iconic figures in the house music scene, Osunlade, took the time to talk with The DJ Cookbook about the importance of growing your food. He also spoke about his admiration for Prince and what he learned from him that solved the drummer and bassist problem. Spending his summers in Chicago and discovering house music on the radio and the process of getting to know a new artist and developing their journey together.

A: Greece, everything! The freshest of it all. When you understand how important it is to grow your own food, you realize what things are really meant to taste like. Nothing so specific about the other places.

A: Prince of course. I loved the fact that he did most of it himself. Being in bands early on I learned fast that the drummer and bassists are always gonna be an issue so I learned what I could to solve that problem. Prince was the beacon for that.

A: Yes, in Chicago. I spend most of my teenage summers with my cousin there. We would listen to house on the radio. As well some older cousins would go clubbing to hear Frankie Knuckles.

Over the next ten years, with credits for over 20 albums, Osunlade began to feel the pressures and practices of the music business had overshadowed his passion for music. Deciding he would no longer work under the influence of corporate demands, he chose instead to seek spiritual solace and honour his soul. This spiritual pilgrimage led him to Ifa, a naturalist ancestral culture based on divination, deriving from the Yoruba tribes of Africa and subsequently practiced by African American slaves.

In 1999 Osunlade embarked on what has become his dream come true: the founding of Yoruba Records. Recognized as one of the most important dance music labels worldwide, Yoruba Records is a pure source of music created to elevate the spirit. In little under a year, and with only two singles, Osunlade would receive praise from his peers, finally finding the love he sought for years within the underground dance music community.

As he embarks on an intensely personal new project, Osunlade has evolved and is currently sharing his vision alongside a new band. With a new album in the works, fans will finally hear the true inner voice of the man and feel the honesty and conviction of his spirit.

Despite fulfilling many roles as a musician, composer, performer, producer and DJ, Osunlade is best described as an artist, inspired by ideals of balance, wisdom and spirituality. Hailing from St. Louis Missouri, a place known for its tradition of blues, jazz, and ragtime, he discovered the piano at age seven, writing his first songs at just twelve years old. After going on to form local bands and teaching himself several instruments, he began to develop a creative passion that would motivate a lifelong quest for musical and artistic fulfilment.

Osunlade is an intelligent, spiritually minded and classically trained musician, DJ and producer. Drawing influence from the wider sphere of world music and live instrumentation, Osunlade isn't a created professional persona, he really is at one with his art.

Here he tells gives us the 'scoop' on his new artist album, why he is so in love the work of the contemporary surreal artist Wangechi Mutu, his grumbles on remixes and why you won't be able to stop dancing to his new Strictly Rhythm Ibiza mix. Here's what the legendary producer had to say first hand...

Answer: Oh, everything! I've just taken some time off to live and relax, working on the next album and doing this mix! It's been quite a big production, and having a few small tours here and there.

Answer: Yes it is. It's actually complete, but I'm still living with it. I've done about maybe 23 tracks but it'll be about 11 or 12. It's pretty much done, just making the final selections, tweaking mixes, sequencing the entire project. Getting art ideas and just trying to formulate a product. When I do an album I try to get a full idea completed so I can live with it and see it as a full album.

Answer: Yes. It's going to be a difficult one, I'm trying to incorporate some art of a very lovely artist. I'm in love with Wangechi Mutu she does really strong, some people say dark, collages. It's really amazing and I like her work because it's not your typical idea of beauty. So I'm trying to formulate a situation where I get in contact with her to use some of the images. I hear she's quite difficult to deal with! She's Kenya born and New York based.

Question: Now I wanted to ask you something. You did an interview recently where you said "I think the music business itself is non-existent." I don't know if you remember saying that. What did you mean by this? Is it because of the new digital age?

Answer: Well, as I speak now, I probably meant I grew up in the major label forum. That's totally gone. The digital music age is definitely the way now, but I think the formula now is quite strange from the original make up of the music business. The form of music business that I know, it's gone! It's dead. It's kind of a sad thing that you have so many labels popping up, it's like they have new artists, new producers that are not really musicians, producers. No one's really taking the role of quality assurance I guess I would say. Anyone can put a record out, or have a label, there's no overhead, there's no promotion outside of the digital site. The song is Top 10 because they sold 200 downloads! There's not much structure. I think I've made a conscience decision to not make another house artist album. I think this is it for me, it's time to let the new guys take over and there are some I really appreciate. This is my last one.

Answer: No, I'm not going to do another artist album but I will still produce music for other artists on the label. I probably won't do much remixing, I've not done many in the past 2 years. I've done about 2 or 3 in that period, I'm phasing out of it.

Answer: Yeah the one thing I dislike is how in the house music genre, everything comes with the 'Original Mix'. The actually title of the said says 'Original Mix'. That's kind of discerning to me. There are so many versions of the song that the original version has to be called 'Original Mix'. If a song is good then you don't need a package with 7 remixes! It's just quality versus quantity. It's an over load of nothingness! I'm adamant about spending at least 30 hours a week searching for music whether it's house, jazz, whatever. I'm a big supporter of dying music and finding new artists. It's important for me to stay on top of what's going on. I'll spend so much time looking through electronic music and I may find maybe 3 tracks that I'll actually use, and that's kind of sad. Whatpeopleplay.com is my favourite site, the referencing is great, the pack shots are good, good reviews. Whereas with others sites, you spend hours and hours going through these genres and the genres are incorrect! There's just too much.

Answer: Well it goes back to quality. Strictly Rhythm is a name people associate with quality. It has a long standing catalogue and it's the new house label for people like myself, Quentin Harris, and these kinds of artists have built careers with quality music. There aren't many other labels doing that, you hear about these artists who are coming up and getting a great buzz, then you listen to the music and it's just 12 minutes of drum loops and that's not a song!

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