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Oshin is a UK-based video artist, documentary
maker and hip hop poet. Born in the quaint city
of Bath Spa, also the home-in-exile of Emporer Haile
Selassie Rastafari , there are few parts of Britain Oshin
hasn't lived in. This natural wanderer has earned him
the well-deserved title 'Da Nomad'.
No fault of his own he shared his early days up untill the age of seven
in diffirent childrens homes in Weston-super-mare and Bristol then
adopted by a family that had just emigreated back to Britain after
living in Philadelphia and Montreal Canada. |
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Oshin
- Coventry, West Midlands, UK 1985
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As a young black child growing up amongst a white
family he saw two sides of the coin that gave
him a perspective, his first real start in life and
early experience of travelling the diffrent countries.
He then saw the begining of punk rock, disco,
funk, reggae. As a young black youth, Oshin could relate
to the two-tone era. especially how this ska music
had just been reborn from Coventry City, it was
a magic time.
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| As the two-tone era of the Specials and Selecter
came to an end in the late 70's early 80s, a void needed
to be filled and hiphop culture arose to fill that mighty
gap. Oshin's life was forever changed when he first heard "Grandmaster
Flash's The Message". His mis-spent youth was spent tagging
and spraying graffiti peices in the urban landscapes
of the West Midlands, breakdancing on the streets of
Coventry and Birmingham and later composing and writing
lyrics. |
| Hiphop became so much a part of Oshin's identity
that he went to the source - New York City first stop
Farrockaway Queens in the mid 80's. He got involved in
the scene and also spent a considerable time playing
Reggae sound systems in clubs, in houses and on the streets
of Brooklyn, Queens that also took him to in Jamaica
(St Thomas). Going to Jamaica changed his whole vison
of life on the streets of New York. |
Oshin returned to the UK nine years
later in November 1993 to find his skills as a hiphop
and reggae MC very much in demand in Europe on the continent,
especially in Amsterdam. After some months, he decided
to go to West Africa for a short holiday that resulted
in him staying for half a year on the streets of Serakunda,
Banjul, The Gambia and Dakar, Senegal.
After the Gambia, he embarked on a journey that would take him through
Senegal, Sierra Leone and ultimately in search of his Father and family
roots in Nigeria on the strength of his name Oshin and a scrappy
peice of paper with a old address in Lagos. Meeting his family in Nigeria
gave Oshin a sense of pride and cultural direction that had always
been missing. Africa quelled the American street from Oshin's mind and
it was as if he had found the missing pieces of his life's jigsaw that
gave a full picture. During the next few years Oshin divided his
time between his first love Jamaica, UK and now Africa. He was kept busy
playing music, MCing and DJing. In 1997 after returning from a trip in
Jamaica Oshin hooked up with a few artists in May and together formed
Brixton's finest - The 57th Dynasty |
| The 57th Dynasty began
doing shows as a group, the first show was in Brockwell
Park then Dingwell's in Camden and St Paul's Carnival,Coventry,
Bristol all over the UK etc. The Independent 8-member
collective was nominated for a Mobo Award in
1999. The following year they won the
Best Hiphop Act at the UK Hiphop awards. A state
of touring and gigs followed including Glastonbury, V2000
and a European tour. 57th
Dynasty has released two albums and numerous
Eps and singles. |
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| Ever on the lookout for new and innovative
means of self-expression, Oshin got his hands on a digital
video camera and began documenting the Dynasty's hectic
schedule as well as other UK artists. He decided to improve
his video editing skills and enrolled in a short course
in St Pauls Bristol in making his first documentary about
the hiphop scene that he was involved in with in UK.
Oshin discovered he had a real talent for filmmaking
and decided to expand the first short project, Independent
Hype, into a full length documentary featuring
independent British hiphop acts. Independent hype volume
1 (Corner 2 Corner)
has been seen by thousands of underground HipHop Heads
and was screened at The International Black Film
Makers Festival in September 2003 and also succesfully
screened on Channal 4's Heavy TV then
later acknowledged by the British Film Archives.
Still working as an artist, check this site for more
details of new solo project EP 'The Da NoMADs
Comin!' |
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