I have known about Mawaan Rizwan for some time now as I first saw him in the BBC drama, ‘Murdered by My Father’. In fact he’s not the only actor in his family – his brother (Nabhaan Rizwan) was outstanding in ‘The Informer’ and his mother (Shahnaz Rizwan) is a well-known face in Bollywood.
However, it was not until last year, that YouTube served me up something brand new from Mawaan, in the form of a song called, ‘Are You Checking Me Out Or Are You Just A Racist‘. This song and his others showcase that Mawaan can sing, dance and make people laugh all at the same time. I imagine that writing a decent song is quite a challenge on its own, so couple that with making it comical, probably adds another level of complexity. My verdict is that Mawaan nails it, first of all it is a three-verse, fully-fledged song that is equal parts smart, silly and funny with a catchy chorus.
My favourite lyric:
‘I said I’ve got a name too, we have so much in common.’
Scrolling through the YouTube comments, other people were name-dropping his other songs such as ‘Mango‘. When I pressed play on ‘Mango’ let me tell you, I was not ready for the visual and auditory experience that I was about to embark on. The song is crazy, energetic and fun but does also touch on some important themes, like the pressure for men to be seen as ‘MANLY MEN’ and that is sometimes evident in the way certain products are marketed for the male population:
‘Cos my hair-gel, my aftershave, it’s BULLDOG, it’s MANCAVE.’ ‘But I want fruity shower-gel…gimme that fruity shower-gel’.
When I watched the live performance of ‘Mango’, Mawaan danced the heck out of this song complete with a choreographed routine, outfit change and some audience interaction – he put on a proper show, I felt like I had done a workout just watching him.
My favourite lyrics:
‘Call me…Morgan FreeMango’
‘Sport Impact…what the fuck is Sport Impact’ That’s not a flavour, that’s a concept. ‘I don’t wanna wash myself in a concept’.
teetreats 