Their album isn’t due out until 6th April, but already Young Fathers are causing a stir with its provocative/funny/arresting title, White Men Are Black Men Too. ‘G’ Hastings, Alloysious Massaquoi and Kayus Bankole first hit the headlines when their blend of hip-hop and punk, rock and pop won them last year’s Mercury Award, and now they’re on trend on Twitter again with an album name and concept that sees them questioning “what is identity? Why claim to speak for a dispossessed white or black class or group or generation? When you can only ever speak for yourself.”
In an exchange over the name of the album, Massaquoi argued sticking with this title suggestion after some in their camp thought of scrapping it: “We came at it from a different angle, a positive angle. It’s got issues of race and so what? Why should alarm bells start ringing, even though in general conversations race, politics, sex and religion are always the subject matter? Why should it be discussed behind closed doors and never confronted head on?”
He went on: “Motown music helped change the world, made it expectable for blacks to be on radio and seen on TV, MJ did it too. Martin Luther King wanted equality and achieved it to some degree. But, after all that, are things equal in this world? F*CK NO.”
Listen to the mix Young Father made for us below.