“Tadow” by FKJ & Masego
William Harris by George Spencer· Published · Updated
The word tadow is a term that can perhaps best be described as an onomatopoeia, and according to the Urban Dictionary, what it alludes to is a major success. Masego remembers exactly where he got the term from, which is an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; })();Though the way it is used in this song is more along the lines of a standard onomatopoeia, i.e. as an expression of excitement. And similar to how utilized on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Masego makes usage of “tadow” more specifically in a romantic context.
In the first verse, it encapsulates how he felt upon beholding the addressee – the apple of his eye – for the first time. And later, as in the chorus, it is symbolic of his enduring love for her.
Outside of that, what the other two verses center on mostly is the vocalist’s admiration of her beauty. Indeed, it would appear that one of the things he fancies the most about the addressee is the fact that other guys find her extremely-attractive. The ending of the third verse also seems to serve as Masego recognizing, relatedly, that she is akin to a skilled female playa. Furthermore, the vocalist also appears to recognize that he too, basically, has fallen under the spell.
Masego and FKJ
Masego is a singer who apparently did a lot of traveling with his family in his youth but ultimately attended from both high school and college and Virginia. He is an artist who actually forsook the latter in the name of pursuing a music career, with his discography dating back to 2015, when Masego would have been in his early 20s.
');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; })();“Tadow”, the first official single in his catalog, also stands as the singer’s biggest commercial hit to date, with the song achieving RIAA platinum status in 2021.
Meanwhile FKJ, who has his background in sound engineering, is a musician from France. Apparently he hasn’t had massive industry success as of yet but does appear to be akin to a very-prominent underground artist. That said, FKJ recently dropped a collaboration with (Carlos) Santana called “Greener”.
Noteworthy Things about “Tadow”
It’s Masego and FKJ who wrote and produced “Tadow”. And even though EQT Records released this track on 5 October 2017, it wasn’t until a couple of years later that the music video came out, as helmed by director Joe Weil.
Then, in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of this track, FKJ and Masego made for sale an NFT collection based on it.
For the record, the aforementioned Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode would be the 22nd of Season 4, which is titled “M is for the Many Things She Gave Me”.
