Now, at 74, he has gained new attention as a rapper, using Cantonese hip-hop music to press home a message on environmental protection and overconsumption. The former director of the Observatory teamed up with singer-songwriter Luna Lee Chui-ting, 29, known to fans as “Luna Is A Bep”, to create a snappy number titled “Buy Less Buy Better”. For their music video, which premiered on YouTube on June 5, Lam shed his standard white shirt and grey trousers to don sunglasses and a retro-style shirt and jacket.
And for his debut as a rap artist, he called himself “Chiu-ying Gor”, meaning “Brother” Chiu-ying. The song has a serious message about fast fashion and wasteful overspending on cheap, trendy and mass-produced clothes. Lam and Lee chose the theme to highlight that fashion is the world’s third-most polluting industry, with carbon emissions accounting for 8 per cent of the global total.
“It is a significant contribution to the deteriorating climate, and it is fast growing,” Lam said. With the repeated catchphrase “buy less, buy better”, the 21⁄2-minute video has garnered nearly 31,000 views and 1,900 likes as of Friday evening. Musician Lee hoped the song would remind people to shop wisely and support local businesses instead of blindly following fashion trends.
Her lyrics go: “I choose class over craze. Smart spending saves the day. Cheap clothes rarely look good, you don’t even have to say it, I’d know.
” She hoped people would opt for locall.
