Perth's Selekt Few release This Is Not Fine, a seething piece of political commentary |
|
Fresh off the release of #1 Solace Lane, Perth Hip Hop group Selekt Few are back with a spicy new single for the times.
This Is Not Fine is a smooth but seething piece of political commentary and a sombre reflection on the world we are all experiencing as Australian’s in 2020.
While undertones of anger are ever present, the lyrics of this song provide a clarion call for empathy, maturity and understanding in our society - rightly pointing out that this is not the time for the kind of “emotional stage fright” too often shown by political leaders.
With clear intent listeners are encouraged to process the raw emotion associated with witnessing the loss of homes, of human life, and the lives of billions of animals during the 2019-20 bushfire season, and to feel empathy for people locked-in as a result of COVID-19.
With sombre tones and a heavy heaping of defiance, Selekt Few take aim at the Prime Minister and his Government; outlining a series of missteps and calling into question the ‘family values man’ image espoused by the PM.
From the Murray-Darling River fiasco, to ignoring firefighters requests for funding, to the PMs’ decision to holiday in Hawaii during our nation's biggest bushfire crisis, to drinking at the footie during the second wave outbreak of COVID-19 - there’s a lot of ground to cover.
Instrumental by Rob Shaker, recording by Ruxton & Shareef, mixed by Ruxton, mastered by Joe Carra at Crystal Mastering.
This Is Not Fine is a smooth but seething piece of political commentary and a sombre reflection on the world we are all experiencing as Australian’s in 2020.
While undertones of anger are ever present, the lyrics of this song provide a clarion call for empathy, maturity and understanding in our society - rightly pointing out that this is not the time for the kind of “emotional stage fright” too often shown by political leaders.
With clear intent listeners are encouraged to process the raw emotion associated with witnessing the loss of homes, of human life, and the lives of billions of animals during the 2019-20 bushfire season, and to feel empathy for people locked-in as a result of COVID-19.
With sombre tones and a heavy heaping of defiance, Selekt Few take aim at the Prime Minister and his Government; outlining a series of missteps and calling into question the ‘family values man’ image espoused by the PM.
From the Murray-Darling River fiasco, to ignoring firefighters requests for funding, to the PMs’ decision to holiday in Hawaii during our nation's biggest bushfire crisis, to drinking at the footie during the second wave outbreak of COVID-19 - there’s a lot of ground to cover.
Instrumental by Rob Shaker, recording by Ruxton & Shareef, mixed by Ruxton, mastered by Joe Carra at Crystal Mastering.
|
|
|
THIS IS NOT FINE - an open letter to the PM.
I write this letter in earnest, despite what the lyrics of our song may suggest.
Over the past six months we have had the chance to see the very best of you as our PM.
In the moment you decided to work together with State Premiers on co-ordinated lockdowns and began to convene National Cabinet day in day out.
When your Government worked closely with Unions to bring in a Jobs Guarantee, saving millions of jobs in the process.
In the decisions to immediately double Newstart payments, lifting tens of thousands of Australians out of poverty and preventing hundreds of thousands more entering it - albeit temporarily.
At these times you were at your very best.
You listened to the needs of the community and worked with others in an attempt to meet those needs quickly and effectively.
But too many times over the past 12 months I found myself with my heart in my mouth, or face in my hands; crying.
Crying in despair because I can not turn away from my fellow citizens in the face of catastrophe.
Crying with fury at the lack of leadership amidst crisis after crisis.
THIS IS NOT FINE, Mr Prime Minister.
If I were PM I could not pack my bags and set off for Hawaii amidst a national bushfire crisis.
I would not be out drinking, smiling and waving my scarf at the footie on the week low-income Australian's are forcibly locked up in public housing towers amidst a coronavirus outbreak.
You would not catch me dead playing political football with aged care or quarantine.
This is not the time for political point scoring.
In times like these Australians' expect our leaders and political representatives to co-operate and get things done, and to leave the 'politics' out of it.
This year and the ones to follow immediately after are not like any we have known before.
These times require a new and co-operative politics which prioritises human health and the protection and rejuvenation of our natural environment above all else.
I pray you and our other political representatives will step up to this task.
Our lives and livelihoods lay in the balance.
Solidarity,
Luke Skinner
(Luke Skinner is an MC with Selekt Few).
Selekt Few are a Perth based hip hop group on independent label Hearing Things. We make music we enjoy, and pride ourselves in sharing honest thoughts on the personal and political issues we care deeply about. Fresh off the back of releasing “#1 Solace Lane”, a sold out album launch and performing Perth Festival comes the anticipated release of our latest single “This Is Not Fine”. We have performed at venues across the Perth metro area and south west of WA, and look forward to hitting up the rest of WA in the near future.
Follow Selekt Few and their music on their Website | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube
I write this letter in earnest, despite what the lyrics of our song may suggest.
Over the past six months we have had the chance to see the very best of you as our PM.
In the moment you decided to work together with State Premiers on co-ordinated lockdowns and began to convene National Cabinet day in day out.
When your Government worked closely with Unions to bring in a Jobs Guarantee, saving millions of jobs in the process.
In the decisions to immediately double Newstart payments, lifting tens of thousands of Australians out of poverty and preventing hundreds of thousands more entering it - albeit temporarily.
At these times you were at your very best.
You listened to the needs of the community and worked with others in an attempt to meet those needs quickly and effectively.
But too many times over the past 12 months I found myself with my heart in my mouth, or face in my hands; crying.
Crying in despair because I can not turn away from my fellow citizens in the face of catastrophe.
Crying with fury at the lack of leadership amidst crisis after crisis.
THIS IS NOT FINE, Mr Prime Minister.
If I were PM I could not pack my bags and set off for Hawaii amidst a national bushfire crisis.
I would not be out drinking, smiling and waving my scarf at the footie on the week low-income Australian's are forcibly locked up in public housing towers amidst a coronavirus outbreak.
You would not catch me dead playing political football with aged care or quarantine.
This is not the time for political point scoring.
In times like these Australians' expect our leaders and political representatives to co-operate and get things done, and to leave the 'politics' out of it.
This year and the ones to follow immediately after are not like any we have known before.
These times require a new and co-operative politics which prioritises human health and the protection and rejuvenation of our natural environment above all else.
I pray you and our other political representatives will step up to this task.
Our lives and livelihoods lay in the balance.
Solidarity,
Luke Skinner
(Luke Skinner is an MC with Selekt Few).
Selekt Few are a Perth based hip hop group on independent label Hearing Things. We make music we enjoy, and pride ourselves in sharing honest thoughts on the personal and political issues we care deeply about. Fresh off the back of releasing “#1 Solace Lane”, a sold out album launch and performing Perth Festival comes the anticipated release of our latest single “This Is Not Fine”. We have performed at venues across the Perth metro area and south west of WA, and look forward to hitting up the rest of WA in the near future.
Follow Selekt Few and their music on their Website | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube