“No soul searching, God is in abundance” Music is supposed to be a representation of what lies within your soul and even though my next artist of the DKM Atlanta Interview Series raps, he’s becoming more of a soul artist by the day.
The leader of his Ghetto Heaven Records tribe and man that believes connection is the greatest gift you can give your community is Clayton County’s very own Osiris Wolf.
His roots stem back to his musically inclined family from Tennessee that was relocated to first Atlanta and then ultimately Riverdale after Wolf’s uncle passed away.
My mother moved to pursue a career as a songstress and writer so I basically grew up in the studio watching the entire process unfold, from seed to sew. One of my mother’s musical partners at the time managed Camp 22 (Cash Camp) and I witnessed the re-recording of Crank Dat Yank first hand.
Real legendary stuff right there. With having a dad that put him on to rap greats such as Tupac, No Limit, 8 Ball and Hot Boyz and a mom that presented him with Marvin Gaye, Erykah Badu, Floetry, BeeGees, Luther [Vandross] and Isaac Hayes, Wolf’s appreciation for music was nothing but inevitable.
That combination of his personal life experience along with being in the heart of Atlanta during the So So Def & BME takeover was ultimately the remedy of his youth.
“I started taking note of significant changes in my life as a teenager and started documenting it like essays, which turned into freeform poetry & became a launchpad for an interest in music beyond consumption.”
The roots of his sound take from some of the most eccentric artists. Wolf takes inspiration from some musical legends including D’Angelo, The Roots, Stevie Wonder, Bootsie Collins, James Brown, Scarface, Anita Baker, Miles Davis and George Clinton.
If he’s leaning towards more of the artists he listened to growing up, you can hear more of DMX, Outkast, Gotye, Sade, Jay-Z, Kanye, Jeezy, The Dream, Michael Jackson, Prince and Odd Future – highlighting Tyler, Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean, Vince Staples & the Internet. Even now, he can’t help but to catch a vibe from the likes of Drake, James Blake, Tame Impala and Kendrick Lamar.
“I soak up so much game from so many pockets overtime, I can go on forever for real.”
If you knew Wolf back from high school, you probably didn’t know him as “Osiris Wolf” because you knew him as Just’Shaad from the alternative rap collective BJFWBC. Being so young and in charge of managing artists that coincided alongside his brother’s clothing company was a big feat for artist from the Soufside.
He goes on to detail that early experience coming up into music as,
“One of my brothers got signed, and at least half of the other members managed to find their respective places in the music or production spaces. That process of success & failure exposed me to the trials and tribulations of the music business at large, and so that’s where my true education started.”
Wolf likes to make full circle connections through his music, noting that,
“What I consider soul & hip hop is one in the same in connection to James Brown along with R&B, but Soul is how I combine it all with integrity.”
Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia Ultra was the tape that solidified his passion. However, there is more than just sound that can inspire the music. When speaking on what inspires his sound, he gives a very introspective answer.
“Time inspires me. Love inspires me. Loss inspires me. My mother inspires me. My Uncle Mike is the one legend I can’t receive verbal approval from that actually bothers me, so it’s my eternal drive. In broader terms, it depends on how much time we have here.”
Time has had a big effect in the progression of Osiris’s musical progress. Over the pandemic, he came to a moment of realization where he began to understand that he possessed a more I have a directorial mind and matches up his sound to the movie or moment he once lived it and later re-constructed from an emotional place. Everything he feels has a high budget extra terrestrial visual experience, which explains why so little of his music still remains in the vault…for now.
My destination is truth, and I grew up in an era of conscious music that heavily relied on a third person point. You live long enough to see why they took that angle and you’ll retrace the method to where it feels most honest from within, first. My only motive is to keep sharing pieces of the man I’m becoming and provide more motivation as I begin to understand my power more. I don’t hold music out of mystery; anything that comes off too easy has potential to get scrapped. My ultimate goal in the hustle of it all is to challenge my dexterity & remain closer to my essence than any other singular thing.
So speaking on Wolf now, he’s gearing up for a music shift. His label Ghetto Heaven Records is breaking ground with the artist roster and the current releases. His two latest singles Dialtone and On The Floor speak directly to the tumultuous relationship with growth.
“Dialtone serves as the double edge sword of letting go as referenced with On the Floor. That piece that still longs, mourns, grieves, reminisces. Survivor’s remorse; for lack of better words. I realize the various genres I maneuver through can confuse people on the surface, but the link that connects everything together remains in the words & reflection of where I am at that time.
It was just a moment of honesty for me. I lost a lot of people and have experienced pains. I could never make a point to gauge in music in a raw state of confusion, so I had to transition the energy with a more graceful approach. These is the leap of faith, the slow dive into the unknown and the peace mystery can offer once you surrender the need for control. No matter how hard it is or how uncomfortable the sacrifice may be, it’s the price we are mandated to pay for the life we deserve. Go with your gut feeling and leave it all on the floor when it’s done. A simply complicated ode to letting go.”
When speaking what upcoming for the Tribe? His answer: More shows. More movies. More projects. More product. More ideas. What about his “Heaven Can Wait” project? It was stated as to expect this: “Simply put, expect the start of a flood. Heaven Can Wait, we still got more Hell to raise.” He leaves us with these lasting words on the ever-evolving sense of self: “The true measure of growing up is the understanding that everybody else is already taken; who are you going to be when the world asks you to share your truth? At that point you have to experiment to find your voice; originality is going to come in hand eventually to help you align with your cause. You either gon’ live life shape shifting to pressures and circumstances or you find an angle to commit to and harness the core. The choice is always yours.”
A man that is not afraid to put his tribe on his back for the betterment of music, Osiris Wolf is putting on for the Soufside through reinstating the meaning of what is soul music. Tap in Osiris Wolf’s current hits “Dialtone” and “On The Floor” out on all major streaming platforms and follow Osiris Wolf through @osirisdelaluna on all socials.
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