Over the past few years, the tides have visibly shifted in Country music. A new wave of Black artists is transforming the genre and refusing to be shut out of a musical style their progenitors helped shape. Artists like Beyoncé, Shaboozey, and Tanner Addell have played influential roles in this change by pushing the genre forward with experimental sounds and powerful lyricism. Zambian artist Moonga K. has come forth with his proposition to be added to this pantheon.

Known for his bold experimentation and poignant storytelling, he is stepping into new territory with his latest, ‘OUTLAW,’ a six-track Country-inspired record that explores themes of courage, queer love, community, and mental health. “I love constant evolution,” Moonga explains. That’s what I think outlaws are: individuals with unadulterated spirits, wild and free in everything we run towards.” 

Echoing Black Country trailblazers like Herb Jefferies, Ray Charles, and Charley Pride, he describes his new project as a love letter to the past, present, and future. “Black hands built the banjo, Black mouths sang the Blues, and Black feet beat the rhythm of the South, yet we’ve been ghosted from the genre we helped create,” he explains.

The project takes influences from genres like Funk, Pop Punk, Rock, Soul, Electronica, and Hip-Hop. Crafted with the help of co-producers Hannah V and Ryan Marshall, Moonga K. created a sound that strikes a balance between feel-good tracks and soulful ballads. “Artists like Breland and Beyoncé allowed me to be more experimental with my sound,” he says. “I love that when you listen to their records, it always sounds unmistakably like them and reflects their joy for music, and so I attempted to emulate that.” 

Born in Zambia and raised in Botswana, the South Africa-based artist is a product of diverse cultural influences. This exposure has pushed him to reflect more deeply on the kind of music he wants to put out in the world, having grown up in a heternormative society that dictated how he was expected to exist in the world. Despite this sense of alienation, he strives to make music that resonates with others who have felt like outcasts or “misfits” as he likes to call them.

The last time I spoke to Moonga K., towards the end of the pandemic in 2021, he was preparing for the release of his sophomore EP, ‘Candid,’ a defining point in his budding career as he grappled with what it meant to be a queer artist in today’s times.  ‘OUTLAW’  features a queer love song, “stole my heart,” and marks the first time he has used pronouns in his music. “I truly didn’t intend to be political about it,” he explains. “I just thought I’d never really heard a black man sing a country song about loving another man, so I wanted to write my version of that. I’ve always been fluid in who I love or interact with romantically, and I wanted to contribute something I hope could make it easier for a black male queer artist in country to feel motivated in pursuing without fear.” 

Set in a futuristic world where technology, time travel, and cowboy life merge, Moonga’s story in ‘OUTLAW’ follows Kai, a lone ranger who falls in love with another Black man, Elijah. Though society in this imagined future has progressed, remnants of oppression and queerphobia still linger, and people are fleeing from traumatic families. On their journey, they encounter fellow outsiders in clubs and intergalactic ranches and find a community, ultimately discovering the transformative power of their love. 

This is a story he is hoping to bring to life soon. His love of sci-fi deepened the project’s visual approach, and through this aesthetic, he hopes to evoke a sense of community among fellow misfits. “I’ve stepped further into accepting that I’m on my path musically,” he reflects after feeling othered throughout his life. 

The road to releasing this body of work has not always been a steady one. “I had a lot of white folks, specifically, who were hesitant about me stepping into Country, not because they didn’t believe I could do it, but because the country industry is cut-throat and racist,” he shares. “Stories from writers in Nashville, while disheartening to hear, didn’t faze me in any way.”  This experience speaks to challenges many Black artists face while trying to break into the Country genre without taking into account identity markers like gender and sexuality. “I have always felt pigeonholed, but I have always found people who resonated with my music, so I just stick to the truth that someone out there will like my shit,” he says. 

In many ways, ‘OUTLAW’ is also defined by an almost obsessive focus on world-building. It is imaginative, ever-expanding, and attempts to create new narratives and worlds for the Black community to exist in. “Lyrically, Africans have always been storytellers, and there’s always passion in vocalising, which is spiritual,” he says. “So, I couldn’t do this record without paying homage to those call and response devices, or choral arrangements, and the banjo, which is rooted in West Africa.” Grounded in these cultural musical devices that are specific African culture, he delivers a distinctive project replete with genre-blurring sounds as seen on “tired!” which infuses traditional Country elements while honouring the genre’s African, Mexican and African-American roots. 

Beyond musical musings, he also drew inspiration from literary and artistic works such as The Negro Cowboys by Philip Durham, visual imagery from series produced by the likes of Ivan McLehann and Gabriela Hasbun, and acclaimed films like ‘The Harder They Fall.’ The common thread between these works is that they reclaim and spotlight often erased history and presence of Black cowboys and Black life while also exploring themes like identity, resilience, and cultural pride.

With this new offering, Moonga K.’s ambition is fiercely global. “I’d love to do some shows in Montreal, Berlin, London, and Los Angeles; they’ve been showing a lot of love to the singles, so it would be great to go out there and perform,” he shares. “The ‘OUTLAW’ Tour is the plan, and I’m trying to secure dates around the world, so fingers crossed, because I’ve never gone on tour before, so this could be the soundscape that sparks that.” 

Listen to ‘OUTLAW‘ here.