Olb Ozouf's latest track, "Howling," brooks no argument. This is a battle cry from the heart of East Saint Louis, the visceral, unvarnished story of surviving the juggernaut of the urban jungle. With his Lost in the Forest project, Ozouf immerses audiences in the complex reality of life in America from a minority perspective: the streets don't provide a path to greatness, but they try to break you at every corner.
Ozouf sketches a hard life of poverty, systemic oppression, and the battle to keep one's head above water in a world engineered to crush people. It's not about hardship; it's about the mindset that enables a person to persevere. A lone wolf navigating fiercely in the wild, the song's protagonist, a no-no-good sacrificial lamb indulging in its isolation, refuses to be consumed by the dark. Instead, he hones his instincts and powers through hunger and howls back at the forces that would break him.
The beat goes on like a heartbeat, steady, relentless, and impossible to ignore. There's a tension in the rhythm, a drive of urgency aligning with the words. Ozouf's delivery is visceral and unvarnished, his voice imbued with passion and life experience. Each verse lands like a hard truth, and each chorus is a release, an opportunity to breathe before plunging back into the fray.
"Howling" is not music but a mirror highlighting the struggles of those usually ignored. It's a song for those who have felt lost, the ones who have had to walk through a world with crooked politicians and law enforcement, who have had to fight to survive in an oppressive system."
With "Howling," Olb Ozouf isn't simply building an audience; he's creating a community. His music is a means for individuals to connect, to be seen for who they are, and ultimately to find strength in their struggles. There's something profoundly moving about hearing your own story in someone else's words; Ozouf delivers that with steadfast honesty.
"Howling" is a demarcation point in his Lost in the Forest adventure, at which the lost boy doesn't survive; he flourishes. If "Howling" indicates things to come, Olb Ozouf is an artist to look for because of his talent and savage ability to transmute pain into strength.
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