24-year old Anaheim rapper OHNO, who has spent the first decade of his young career transcending LatinX hip-hop stereotypes, arrives at Def Jam Recordings through Frisco Lopez’s One Percent Sound as the needle drops on his SUNSHINE IN A BAG EP, and lead track “Drowsy,” out today. “Most definitely my favorite project I’ve done this year,’ OHNO says of his long-awaited major label debut, “in such a dark time it’s nice to have some light at your disposal.”
“Sunshine In a Bag” is the latest joint from a prolific artist whose releases over the past year, including “Dimelo,” “Sabes Que Te Quiero” featuring Robot 95, “Jugo,” and “Drip Drop” have potently solidified his fan base (known as ‘The Good Kids Club’) of over 240,000 Instagram followers, over 215,000 YouTube subscribers (representing over 37 million views), with over 40 million streams across all DSPs.
His music has already been featured in Def Jam-associated projects including ABC-TV’s Queens (“Preparaté”), and the Double Elvis x Def Jam podcast, Here Comes The Break. And heavy praise has poured in from Fader, udiscovermusic, hypeofflife, Hola!, Loading magazine, and West Coast Styles.
OHNO’s pursuit of music can be traced to his rough childhood; he was eight when his father left the family, and four years later his mother was deported for being a “coyote” (someone who smuggles people into the U.S. from Mexico). In elementary school, he began to dream about performing, inspired by Chris Brown’s dancing and singing. He jotted down rap lines and potential dance moves in a notepad. His approach to music was defined by everything from Ciara and Gang Starr, to Debbie Deb, Zapp and Roger, Metallica, and more.
Shunted from household to household, he fell into a skateboarding crew and a collective called “At last” that focused on making boom-bap rap. His first recordings saw light of day in 2014, “The Burgundy” and “Chips & Hennessy.” He soon realized the scope of his vision was bigger than projects “The Club” and “Birthday Present.” At first he lost some of his boom-bap followers – but they eventually came back stronger than ever. Now pursuing a new aesthetic, he feels comfortable at the top of his game. “In my comfort zone and right outside of it at the same time,” as he says of “Drowsy.”
