Experimenting early with stage names and abandoned rap group attempts, Osama formed "No Front" with childhood friends Da Beast & Myca C. Amateur at first, the group debuted an underground album titled We’re Back, No Front in late 2006. The group wrote, recorded, mixed, mastered and eventually distributed the album on their own. When choosing their musical alter-egos, they played off their actual names.
Move to Pakistan
In spring 2009, Osama shared the stage with Pakistani pop powerhouse Ali Zafar where he opened and performed with Ali in a rendition of "Sajania" The remix was featured on Ali's official MySpace. In the following years, he maintained a solid presence & was a corner stone in the rising Pakistani hip hop landscape and did notable international shows alongside Imran Khan and Edward Maya. Osama was highlighted in Studio 051s Rockumentary also featuring Arieb Azhar, Haroon Rashid, Fringe Benefits, and Abbas Ali Khan. In 2011, he was quoted to have been approached by artist Nouman Khalid to work on the singers sophomore studio album. The single "Desi Thumka" was subsequently released shortly after. The viral single, produced by Bilal Saeed, has garnered nearly 10 million views on YouTube and an immense amount of mainstream attention. Osama went on to release his first single "The Balance" produced by Talal Qureshi, accompanied by a music video directed by MRKLE. The video had a short run on mainstream South Asian TV channels like AAG, Play TV, MTV Pakistan and ARY Musik due to its questionable suicidal content and use of illuminati mockery. The director took a more personal approach in the video and the song's lyrical content highlighted the rappers everyday struggle of juggling dual lives. He began generating more remixes to famous tracks such as Tygas "Rack City", the Bollywooditem song "Munni Badnaam Hui" and Machine Gun Kelly and Waka Flocka Flames "Wild Boy". The remix to "Wild Boy", titled "Pakistani", featuring Punjabi rapper Bali Shah, went viral on social media.
2013–2018
Osama announced focusing on releasing singles only, the first being "Sunshine". Delays on the video release for "Sunshine" were due to the 2012 ban of YouTube in Pakistan. The sophomore single was featured on BBC Asian Network The rapper since then took a 4-year hiatus to focus & complete his MBBS degree from Rawalpindi Medical College and has, in recent times, resurfaced & relaunched his brand starting with "Baghdad". The single was launched July 1, 2017 and accompanied with a music video directed by Huz Kai |Huz Kai, who is the song's producer as well. All set to release new music, Osama recently headlined Pakistans first internationally acclaimed music festival in Islamabad, the Mad Decent Block Party on February 4, 2018 alongside Major Lazer, Valentino Khan & more.
Style and influences
Osama has been quoted to be heavily influenced by Eminem and Nelly and has stated listening to their respective LPs, The Marshall Mathers LP and Country Grammar, are the initial reason the rapper started writing lyrics and making songs.
Discography
Singles
2010: "Barack Osama"
2011: "The Balance"
2012: "Pakistani "
2010: "I'm Zoning"
2013: "Bars of Steel"
2013: "Dance Like You Dead"
2014: "Sunshine"
2015: "15/27"
2017: "Baghdad"
2018: "Chaklala Scheming"
2019: "DIL"
Collaborations
2011: "Desi Thumka"
2013: "Pyaray Allah"
2017: "Teambackpack Cypher – Pakistan"
2018: "IslamaBAAP"
2020: "Pindi Aye"
2020: "New Wave"
EP and albums
2020: "paKING"
Acting career
After launching "Chaklala Scheming" in late 2018, OCL took to Instagram to announce his next single "Dil" which would team him up again with producer/artist Huz Kai. The picture posted for aforementioned announcement went viral launching Osama into the mainstream media for his striking resemblance to Jason Momoa. With the new platform at his disposal, the rapper took to tabloids to share his interest into making a jump into the acting field.
