[1] The group is notable for its energetic fusion of Eastern and Western musical forms, for its outspoken political stance, and for its strong Islamic affiliation and advocacy.
[3] The band was formed in the wake of the 1990s British Asian merging of hip hop and bhangra music, during which time various "conscious rapper" groups began to emerge.
The album name itself was derived from the Black Panthers slogan, and the group's lyrics and texts promoted a fervently anti-racist political slant.
The group drew strongly on the history and philosophy of the Black Power movement in the United States, albeit focused through a British Asian/Afro-Caribbean context and globally aimed left-wing politics.
[9] The uncensored version of the lead single "Dog Tribe" features a recording of a phone call from a member of the UK radical right-wing Neo-Nazi terrorist organization Combat 18, who uses the racial slurs nigger and Paki.
A voice sample of this part of the song quietly appears after the end credits in Squaresoft's 1996 SNES video game Front Mission Series: Gun Hazard.
"[7] The group takes pride in its militant stance, stating "We are hard politically, uncompromising musically and we won't be led by marketing angles.
"[5] The name of the group itself deliberately invokes the idea of Islamic fundamentalism[citation needed], while the hip-hop-inspired hyphenation implies and indicates another purpose, that of combining pleasure ('fun') with thought ('mental').
Fun-Da-Mental frequently sample the voices and rallying speeches of historically significant protest leaders from the past such as Gandhi, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and the Black Panthers.
[3] "It's always been about destroying all the stereotypical ideas about us and others and fighting against the preconceived misconceptions of a host society that has been poisoned by the past" Fun-Da-Mental has also been one of the first British music groups to actively and fiercely defend the Muslim community by example.
In particular, Fun-Da-Mental have set out to appeal to and voice the concerns of the alienated Muslim youth of British towns such as Bradford (Nawaz's birthplace and the original hometown of the group).
Consequently, Fun-Da-mental has reached a significant number of British Muslim youths who identify with the situations and topics covered in the group's lyrics, slogans and presentation.
"[16] Fun-Da-Mental's work has been compared by cultural researcher Sanjay Sharma to that of the Nation of Islam in its combination of pro-black (or pro-non-white) assertion and condemnation of racism.
A particular inspiration was Malcolm X, who notably became a Muslim as part of his political journey: the group sometimes cite his pronouncement that "I am a soldier named Alaha, so put down the cross and pick up the X".