Oshun is a neo-soul duo made up of NYU sophomores Niambi Sala and Thandiwe. Named after a sisterhood of Yoruban deities (Oshun, Oya, Yamaya) as a way honor shared heritage and represent femininity and womanhood, Oshun is fearless: powerful in how their music is simultaneously nurturing and fierce. There’s an undeniable similarity to THEESatisfaction (they even have a cover of “Queens” on their SoundCloud) but their influences also include Lauryn Hill, Dilla, and Tribe Called Quest, the latter two of which they sampled on their 2014 debut AFAHYE.
“builddestroy”, which came out earlier this month, is a paean to the duality between creation and destruction, expressed through lyrics like, “I am legend / I am love / and I’ll destroy what I created / out of love for myself.” After being featured in the Slackgaze Pain zine, Oshun played a hypnotizing set at NoLa Darling, and has since been featured on AfroPunk’s February mixtape. Their next album is set to come out this spring.
