Whether it's through live performances, music videos or on singles, their energy and layered aesthetic have developed quite the fan-base. Oshun's first full-length album, "bittersweet vol. 1," dropped just a few months ago. Watch video
Niambi Sala and Thandiwe, the dynamic duo known as Oshun, are bringing their unique combination of neo-soul and hip-hop to White Eagle Hall next Thursday, July 26. And they’re practically bringing a musical festival with them, as they’ll be joined by Zhe Aqueen, Sunnie, Dante Lyriq, Ashley Sadler, Moresoupplease, THEakasha, and Conundrum — some of whom are local artists.
Thandiwe and Niambi Sala of Oshun.Oshun debuted in 2014, just a year after Niambi and Thandiwe met at NYU. Whether it’s through live performances, music videos or on singles, their energy and layered aesthetic have developed quite the fan-base. Oshun’s first full-length album, “bittersweet vol. 1,” dropped just a few months ago.
“We were very much influenced by the underground hip-hop scene in New York,” says Niambi. “While we were students at NYU, we spent a lot of time in Brooklyn, a lot of time in Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, even Crown Heights, just really getting to know the artists in that space and really just being taken in by a community of rappers and artists and thinkers.”
Time was spent in New Jersey as well during that period, Thandiwe points out.
A lot of tracks on “bittersweet vol. 1” are earworms with the potential to immediately get stuck in your head. Among them, “Blessings on Blessings” is a song partially about self-affirmation in dealing with others who are negative about one’s success, says Thandiwe. “Even if you do have negativity, I’m still blessed … so I’m still going to make a (positive) choice,” Thandiwe says.
“I woke up/stay woke,” an earlier single by the duo (which has a particularly epic & challenging video), explores more than just the struggles of being figuratively “woke.” It explores what it’s like to have to literally just get up in the morning as someone with that sensibility.
“It’s a responsibility,” says Thandiwe. “But we feel honored to be quote unquote woke … to speak and exist in our truth. But at the same time, it’s like waking up in the morning … I may not know what’s going to come. I may not be comfortable … But I know that there’s a greater purpose.”
Niambi and Thandiwe are natives of the D.C.-area, where a civil rights lawyer has recently filed suit against the city. According to the lawyer, the city is primarily building new housing its historically black population cannot afford.
“Yeah, it’s been really crazy to be in D.C. and Maryland, to see how things have changed,” says Niambe. “It seemed very gradual, but … (now when we go back) it’s super different. We were very familiar with it when we went to Brooklyn.
“It’s really happening all over this country and all over the world – the displacement of certain communities. It’s unfortunate. But I think that with the show that we’re doing in Jersey City, connecting with all the local artists, it’s really bringing people together and reminding people that there’s still work to do and inspiring people to do that work.”
The RNB Garden is presenting Oshun and company’s musical garden party at White Eagle Hall, 337 Newark Ave., on Thursday, July 26. The show is 18-plus. Doors open at 8 p.m. for a 9 p.m. show. For tickets go to https://thernbgarden.splashthat.com or https://www.whiteeaglehalljc.com/event/1694512-oshun-jersey-city/.