Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Gabriel Teodros, host of Early on KEXP, is "Bless The Child" by SoulChef & Uptown Swuite, a 2022 single on SoulSwuite Music.
New Zealand-based rapper SoulChef has been churning out soul and jazz-inspired hip-hop for well over a decade now, starting with 2010’s Escapism. He focuses on invoking serenity through his thoughtful lyricism, meticulous productions, and head-bopping beats. He’s also an endeared collaborator.
For one of his latest singles, “Bless The Child,” SoulChef teams up with Bay Area-bred rapper and member of the Digital Martyrs collective Uptown Swuite, for a breezy jam steeped in nostalgia. In the song, the rappers forgive their former adolescent selves for their mistakes since it’s not their fault they were products of broken homes.
This isn’t the first time the two have worked together. In 2020 the duo dropped the collaborative album SoulSwuite. At the time, Uptown Swuite told HipHopDX this about their relationship:
“Soul Chef and I are of Samoan descent. Although I reside in California and Chef lives in New Zealand, New Zealand is like my second home. I used to live there and have real strong roots in the music/Hip Hop community of New Zealand. With this album, we really just wanted to capture the Samoan experience all around via our eyes — whether it be a Samoan living in California, New Zealand or even the motherland Samoa/American Samoa.”
Watch the video for “Bless the Child,” directed by Digital Martyrs below.
