By By Alicia Naidoo
Food for thought,
Grab a plate.
It’s time to enrich your mind by listening to one of the most thought-provoking tracks released last year by a South African duo.
The song titled “Food For Thought” is a single produced by Symbolic, with the lyrical content being created by the two rappers on the track, Malek (22) and Finessah (25).
If you’re into old school hip-hop, the kind of hip-hop that’s raw, tackles social issues and the struggles faced by society, then you have to take a listen to ‘Food For Thought’.
The track opens with an interlude of a news report that speaks of Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla scandal and corruption, which immediately indicate the depth to follow and the consistent element of local politics threaded throughout the masterpiece of the Durban locals.
It has political references relating to the water crisis, police bribery, lack of service delivery, politicians and the corruption that South Africa faces.
The next interlude on the track is a speech from Charlie Chaplin, emphasising the message: “we all want to help one another, and we all want to live by each other’s happiness and not each other’s misery, but we have lost the way, greed has poisoned us.”
The interlude is followed by a verse that highlights the widespread starvation experienced by the destitute: “funny how they can’t feed the poor, but we can feed the wars”. These two succinct yet compelling lines make the interlude relevant to what has become of humanity nowadays.
The verse also makes reference to the controversial topic of the peril of fluoride and also touches on consumerism: “If we not shopping, then they got us feeling cheaper.”
The pair, who has a key interest in politics and the state of modern South Africa, drew their inspiration from the dialogue thereof. “I think the song was inspired by actual conversations we have regarding these topics and surprisingly was put together in 2 days,” says Malek.
The two rappers have a few upcoming singles and plan on consistently working on more music, getting equipment, setting up a studio as well as hopefully lining up a few gigs.
The track is most certainly worth a listen and promises to nourish your mind with a sense of consciousness. TOJ
Food For Thought can be downloaded from SoundCloud with the link below:
Reporting by Alicia Naidoo; Edited by Adryan Ogle and Gaby Ndongo.
Feature image: “Food For Thought” cover photo.
Photo obtained from Malek and Finessah.
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