Cold Chinese Food stirs together sharp introspection and sonic sophistication on their new single “Ethiopian Coffee,” a jazzy, cosmopolitan rap cut that’s equal parts soul-searching and city-slick. Emerging once again from Johannesburg’s underground, the Charles Géne Suite collective outfit helmed vocally by Sam Turpin with musical firepower from Muhammad Dawjee and Rāms, offers a sound that feels lived-in yet forward-looking. It’s the kind of track that captures the push-pull of ambition, identity, and exhaustion in the urban grind.
Carried by Dawjee’s expressive sax and grounded by Turpin’s stream-of-consciousness flows, “Ethiopian Coffee” plays like a diary cracked open mid-commute. From references to late-night sessions and early adult responsibilities to glimpses of spiritual slippage and personal resilience, the song layers its narrative without ever becoming dense. Rāms’ soulful vocal lifts add warmth and texture, giving the single depth and breathability.
The accompanying self-directed visuals lean further into the poetic. There’s a subtle, lived-in magic to the mundane moments portrayed in coffee, books, and rooftop links that becomes spiritual in its own right. Cold Chinese Food aren’t just chronicling a lifestyle; they’re building an archive of the intangible rhythms that keep young creatives afloat in global cities.
Cold Chinese Food signals a powerful evolution ahead of their debut full-length. This is a group unafraid to blend jazz, rap, and vulnerability into something wholly their own messy, beautiful, and unmistakably human.