The Shuffle: Asa’s “Fire On The Mountain” reflects the world we’re living in today
Corona Virus, okada bans, heat waves - Asa's been knowing
We’re only in the third month of 2020, and we’ve heard more disturbing news about R Kelly and his ring of pedophiles, our lives have been threatened by a budding pandemic, the climate is threatened and we’re experiencing a heatwave in Lagos and it’s possible that an asteroid might be coming next month to bring the whole world to an end.
Asa had her finger on the pulse all the way back in 2007, with one of the standouts from her titular debut album, “Fire On The Mountain”, and 13 years later, everything she said still reigns true.
Against an upbeat and catchy guitar-led beat, she sings she touches on the usual societal ills, all in one fell swoop. She discusses problems which exist in different communities all over the world from deceitful lovers (Hey Mr loverman, can I get a chance to talk to you, cause you are fooling with a dead man’s corpse); blood diamonds (so you buy her a diamond that someone has died in, don’t you think there’s something wrong with that?); pedophelia & rape culture (So little Lucy turns 16, and like a movie she’s been seen. She has a lover in her daddy, she can’t tell nobody); and climate change (some day the river will overflow, and there’ll be nowhere for us to go and we will run, wishing we had put out the fire).
All those years ago, Asa pointed out that we live in a society which in a long run will destroy itself and everyone in it, but no one seems to care about what’s going on. It’s difficult to keep up with caring about these societal ills, because they seem to never end and always come at full throttle. But now more than ever, we should all wake up and realise that our world will implode and we’ll all be fucked – whether you care or not.
If you need a reminder about contributing to a society which works and benefits everyone, listen to “Fire On The Mountain” again here:
Featured Image Credits: YouTube/Davido
[mc4wp_form id=”26074″]
ICYMI: Listen to Oby Onyioha’s festive “Enjoy Your Life”
