Israel Wusu | New Single ‘SAFETY’ Screams Hit
Meet Israel Wusu. The 19 year old artist just dropped his newest single ‘SAFETY‘ produced by Kevin Katana and it screams billboard hit. Do you remember Drake’s hit single ‘Fake Love‘ off of the legends mixtape ‘More Life’? We are hesitant to mention Drake in the same breath as anybody else, but Israel Wusu clearly possesses a song with similar potential and catchiness.
The hook of the song plays on the idea that Israel is aware of his surroundings and will not fall for the traps people set on him. It is clear that the lyricism in this chorus is meant to keep emotions at bay, and to stay level headed in playing it safe, this demonstrates the clever title ‘Safety’.
Now I’m moving on safety, and I take shit to the heart
Get ready to sing your heart out to that line. Israel is really playing no games. He see’s through the facade and it is transparent in the music, as the sound demonstrates this concept perfectly. The drizzy pop vibe to it will easily develop an affinity for college parties and clubs to have this record on repeat. This track is a heavy hitter, and is dead eye focused on the independent grind. An eye opener for those who need to be more conscious of who is in their circle. That deeper meaning combined with the catchy melody and professional engineering of the song simply yells banger. It will put you in your bag instantly and make you talk your shit. There is no better way to live. Go obtain that feeling and join the rest of the world by streaming ‘SAFETY’ now. You wont be sorry.
We had the pleasure to interview Israel Wusu, here at Rap Fiesta.
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Hey Israel. Let’s jump right in. Where are you from and how old are you?
I’m 19 and I’m from Providence, Rhode Island. I was actually born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island but moved here when I was 6.
Why use music as an outlet instead of gravitating towards other activities that kids generally do?
I initially wasn’t into music. I used to write poems when I was younger, that was my outlet. I wrote poems and kept a journal on me. When I met my best friend he was like “Yo bro, let’s get into rapping”, and I was like “Ha, never”. He was like “It’s simple, you just recite your poems over the beat”. Ever since then I had more fun with it. I realized that it was the best way to deal with anything. Anger, love, hurt, anything. I had just to let it out in the music.
Why should people take Israel Wusu seriously?
The main reason why I feel people should take me seriously is because I take my music seriously. I take everything seriously. I take people that I don’t even know seriously at first sight. We’re all trying to strive for a goal and I would just like respect, you know?
A lot of artists on the internet aren’t really in too deep. They talk all that jazz like they are a serious artist, but when it comes down to it, it’s all flex. What separates you from the typical Soundcloud, Spotify artist?
Well, that’s a good question. Its my lyrics. All my lyrics are real. I never make any situation up. When I talk about a story, that story is derived from a real experience. Either from my standpoint, or definitely from someones standpoint that I know personally. I never come out here like, “Oh, I got this on me”, “I got this amount of money”. That’s never what it was about for me. It’s always just about having fun with my music and just trying to impact people. So if I’m talking about change, the goal isn’t really about money. The goal is to impact people, and it’s always been my hobby and all my lyrics are true to that concept.
You have a serious banger on your hands with ‘SAFETY’. It gives off vibes of ‘Fake Love’ by Drake. Where did you get the inspiration for this track?
I was having a conversation with this girl and she was talking to me about her principle and she’s like, “You know it’s not about how small the issue is, it’s about the principle of things”, and I’m like, “You know what your right. I definitely take that shit to the heart.”, It sounded nice when I said that and started writing off it. Kevin Katana really put together a nice beat so it was easy for me. So Kevin Katana, the girl I had a conversation with, and Drake really inspired that.
In your lyrics, you give off the message that somebody you trusted, maybe a friend or somebody else, did you wrong. Can you tell us more about that situation?
Well in Providence there’s not too much support for you. You have people that claim they got you or that they’re your friends but they’re not really looking out for you. So, I’ve grown to know better. I’m actually really blessed to have amazing people in my life that support me to the fullest and actually show real love. It’s ironic that you’re talking about fake love and yeah, there’s a lot of fake love out here. So it’s just like, you’re doing something and people don’t want to see you do great and when you’re doing well, I feel like they typically just get upset because they’re probably not doing their best. My music is my best. This is the best me. When I’m making my music and I’m putting it out there, I’m sharing with people a piece of my life and that’s where I’m at my best. That’s when I’m at my peak and when people see you at your peak, they envy that. People show a lot of hate or they switch up and that’s the type of things I’ve been dealing with since I dropped my last EP ‘Flowersforjorge’ back in February.
I do give everybody a chance
It’s clear that you have people in your life that you are slowly losing trust for, hence why you keep it on “safety”. Do you plan on confronting these people about it? How do you deal with these “fake friends” ?
Yeah, exactly. You hit it right on the nail. That’s exactly what I meant. “My shot is wetty but I put that shit on safety”. I feel like they definitely know I’m a very transparent person, but at the same time I’m only transparent with the people that I care about. Most of my circle know what’s going on in my life, but if I start to have problems with you, I address it at first and then slowly I keep my distance. Right then and there, they know. I do plan on confronting them, but the way I live my life, they know. I do give everybody a chance.
Have you ever gotten discouraged from making music to the point where you didn’t want to do it anymore?
Yeah. Before I came up with this song actually. After I dropped my last EP I thought I was kind of done making music. I wanted it to just be a personal thing. Maybe not done making music but done putting music out. I went through a lot this summer and I got a lot of people saying, “Yo bro, your music is awesome. I think you should keep on pushing Israel”. I just told myself even if I’m impacting one person positively, it means a lot to me. If someone messes with my music, I definitely have a purpose. It’s the same as impacting hundreds of people. If I could just impact one person, that means a lot to me and I definitely just decided I’m just going to keep on making and sharing my music. If I have one listener it’s better than having none at all. Helping people is something I love to do.
There’s definitely deeper meaning in your songs. What is the message you want people to receive from your music?
Love. Realness. Family. Those things are definitely recurring in my mind. Love is a big, big thing. Family is a big thing. I love my family. I love my friends with all my heart. They pushed me and I definitely care about all my supporters. I’m here for everyone that I care about and everyone that cares about me. So definitely the message that I’m trying to push through my music is to keep the family close. Continue to love and just do what you want to do best. That’s what I mean when I say all my lyrics are from real experiences. I found my outlet, this is what I love to do and this is when I’m at my best.
At what point did you realize you can maybe turn this music hobby into a career?
When I dropped ‘Flowersforjorge’. It was after the buzz I got off that in my city, and from my followers. I just realized that I had a lot of good support. People were saying things like, “Oh, this is definitely incomparable.Your work is not the same as a lot of people out here. You can definitely succeed.” It’s different because over here you have talent, and then you have the nonsense type of music and when people hear the real stuff, they make you feel like you can go far with it. It just made me realize that I can definitely do this. That’s when I really thought I could make a career out of this. I would love to be on stage delivering and sharing a piece of myself with everybody else who may be going through the same things.
feel my sound, baby I come alive in the night time
Other than that heater you have on your hands with ‘Safety’, that song ‘Colours’ is also a banger. You switch between singing your heart out and saying it seriously, “feel my sound, baby I come alive in the night time”. What do these lyrics mean?
All right. It’s crazy. I was driving at night and I’ve always listened to music late at night while I’m on the highway. I really feel the music the most at night when everything’s calm. The sky is no longer blue, and everything is just straightforward. You can really feel the sounds. It’s when you’re really to yourself. It’s not like “Oh there’s traffic and there’s this, this and that”. It’s the night time. Everything’s calm. So, “feel my sound, I come alive in the nighttime”, a lot of my songs I realized you could listen to on a late night drive and that’s when you can really feel my music.
What’s next for Israel Wusu?
When I first started, I would just get the song together and then drop it. What’s next for me right now is with this song that I have. I’m doing everything different. Promotion has to be different. I’m ready to connect with anybody and just continue branding myself. Music videos are on the way, performances are on the way until I catch wind and people start to see what they have on their hands. That’s definitely what’s next. Everything is next. Everything is going to be different. Not just drop a song and let it sit. Actually dropping the song, pushing it with all my heart and giving it my all.
