Today, December 18, 2023, a London-based film director and music band have joined forces with renowned rapper Snoop Dogg to tackle the issue of homelessness in the UK.
David Fussell, a homeless film director, and Ooberfuse, a London music band, met at the Homeless Restaurant in Oxford Street. After a few jamming sessions, the two created the song “Hard Times,” which features Snoop Dogg’s inimitable flow.
Speaking about the song, Fussell said, “The searching lyrics tell the homeless issue from a new point of view. The story is not told from an on-looker’s perspective like the great Phil Collins song Another Day in Paradise. Rather, Hard Times tells the story in the first person, drawing on real pain ‘shivering in the cold and the rain.’ Hard Times makes it clear that being made homeless could happen to anyone of us.”
Pope Francis, who heard the song, was so moved that he issued a Papal Blessing for the charitable endeavour. The Holy Father emphasised “the importance of caring for the most vulnerable in society’ and urged that we seize opportunities like this ‘to build a more fraternal world.”
The charitable endeavour is being further supported by volunteers from Central London Catholic Churches. Twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday, the volunteers trolley donated food from local Mayfair eateries to the tables of London’s rough sleepers in Farm Street’s Arrupe Hall.
Commenting on the project, musician from Ooberfuse said, “The guy who runs the project, Dominic Robinson is like a modern day Robin Hood! He literally goes to the swankiest restaurants in Mayfair and takes food destined for the sophisticated palettes of the super-wealthy and puts it on the tables of the homeless in Arrupe Hall. It’s next level wealth-redistribution!”
With over 160,000 people in the UK homeless, the collaboration between Fussell, Ooberfuse, and Snoop Dogg is a bold move to help end homelessness.
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.