True Grit: Osama Karamat talks about No Front

Better known as OCL (his stage name), Osama talks about working

as a solo artist and within a group as he drops new single, ‘Free’.

By Maheen Sabeeh

Osama Karamat, predominantly known as OCL (his stage name), has become serious about music in a way that is a far cry from his days of ‘Chaklala Scheming’. Between then and now, OCL has released a three-EP showcase which began with the grittier paKING and was followed by Barbadi and Mun-kashif. In the last few months, OCL has dropped a series of new songs including collaboration[s] with Maria Unera and No Front (which features Myca C & @doxtb). If you head to his YouTube page, you will see OCL in a thoughtful space, which reflects in the lyrical material. And when you combine the audio-visual landscape, the result is true grit. OCL is not the best rapper in the country but the artistic growth within his music and the genuine effort to keep getting better is palpable to those who are following his career.

In addition to being a solo artist as OCL, Osama is also a member of No Front (ft. OCL, Myra C, and Devistator). There is also @dotxb (which is pronounced dot-bee) who is the in-house producer at Stardek, run by MRKLE and Osama (OCL).

When asked about his grittier, changing narrative, he explained: “‘Free’ reminded me of the day and age we live in, cancel culture, having to walk on eggshells, just trying to stay sane in a very insane world.”

He sent the music to an old-time friend, Mike, who picked up on it right away and contributed his perspective (he’s in Houston and the way things are in America right now) and OCL had a Pakistani perspective.

“There are similarities between the two because there is turmoil all over the world but this track was like a therapy session for him and me, getting out certain feelings we’ve been carrying around and letting people know how we feel.”

With hip-hop, the current pulse of the youth, what did Osama hope to achieve, I wondered. But forthcoming as always, Osama said, “I feel that this whole project happened organically. Mike did his part and sent it to me, I wrote it and recorded within 40 minutes, and the thing is this is my favorite release from 2022. Whenever it comes to Mike - we’ve been doing this together for so long and he’s like my brother – [feels] like I’m in my comfort zone. That’s the thing about being in a band, you bounce off each other’s energy; it’s much harder as a solo artist. Collaborations and especially creating in a group, particularly one that has been together for a long time, makes for much easier work.”