Alloysious Massaquoi of acclaimed Scottish alternative hip-hop trio Young Fathers was born in Liberia. At the age of four his mother fled with him to escape the Liberian Civil War.
Massaquoi made the following statement about the experience to NPR: “We had to literally get on a boat — that same sort of thing that’s been happening now, has been happening since freaking whenever, you know. And folk again were falling off the boat and stuff, and everybody was crammed on because everyone’s getting killed and whatnot. So there was this soldier [who] let me and my mother and my sisters on the boat — like, we were like one of the last people literally to get on the boat — and then I was, I think it was near some sort of compound, and then bombs were getting thrown and stuff like that, and we got on the boat.”
That personal experience adds poignancy to Young Fathers latest tune, “Cocoa Sugar.”
Concerning the song, Graham Hastings of the band made the following statement: “a lot of refugees that were traveling from Syria were trying to get to Europe. And it was basically the story of a father. I read this thing about a dad who had, you know, basically put his child on a boat by herself and … ‘Cocoa Sugar’ is like the nickname for the child and [he’s] saying that, you know, goodbye, goodbye for a while…”
Even though the song shares a name with their 2018 album, the tune doesn’t appear on the album. “Toy” from the album was previously featured as a Daily Dose of Protest.
“Cocoa Sugar” compassionately sheds light on the humanity of those who are vilified for trying to escape tumultuous situations.