Iamomni

At this exact moment, at countless points all across this vast planet, people are singing. Some are simply humming a melody under their breath, while others are singing loud enough for their whole building to hear them, but most are mouthing lyrics to themselves at a volume just below conversational – a sound to keep them company. Little of this seems unusual if you’re in a country whose people speak English, the language most world-famous music is written in. It’s not until you travel beyond the West, and get your first taste of a gaggle of Japanese girls savaging the words to a Mariah Carey song, or an Afghani teenager doing his best DMX impersonation, that you become accustomed to a worldwide, timeless human phenomenon: people singing songs written in languages they don’t even understand. If music is truly the universal language, then the true test of a song’s staying power is not on the radio or TV, where (some of) it is paid to be; it’s in the hearts and memories of the people all over the world, no matter what they do or don’t speak. This is the arena in which Los Angeles-based emcee and global hip-hop ambassador Omni continues to perfect his craft.
Omni is the microphone at the mouth of today’s young world. He voices their wants: love of self, the love of another; freedom of mind, freedom of lifestyle, the freedom of adventure and discovery; health and wealth, both financial and spiritual. He ponders their issues and anxieties – the paranoia that is a byproduct of this modern life of HIV and closed-circuit camera, the confusion of living in a world overflowing yet somehow empty. He lives their indulgences: weed, alcohol, cigarettes, sex, caffeine, fast food: a life of lows and highs. He preaches their values: loyalty, independence, dedication, determination. A lifelong resident of West L.A., a diverse slice of Los Angeles between the beach and the hood where immigrants, exchange students and working-class families rub shoulders daily with surfers, skaters, taggers and gangbangers, Omni has seen and done it all, and absorbs the experiences and perspectives of all the people and forces around and within him, synthesizing it all into his music.
A graduate of California’s mid-’90s golden era, when West Coast acts like Hieroglyphics and the Death Row camp were redefining underground hip-hop and commercial rap respectively, Omni’s sound bridges the gap between the two genres and many more, from conscious to crunk, and his come-one-come-all attitude and embrace of all styles of music gives him an appeal that scores across the board, regardless of your age, ethnicity or musical taste. And even if you can’t understand a word he’s saying, his warm, deep vocal tone and steadfast adherence to the MC’s First Commandment (Move the Crowd) are guaranteed to keep his tune in your head way after the song’s over