My latest collaboration with producer Stone Lion is a reggae meditation on loss and hope. Late last year he showed me a new riddim he was working on called ‘Carry On’. I asked what the title was about and he explained it was a meditation on the recent loss of his father. He literally had to pack a carry on, jump on a plane, and rush to see him in a race against time. He also felt it important that the song have a message of hope. Despite his loss and grief, he was determined to carry on. I told him I’d love to have a chance to bless this riddim with lyrics that honor his dad and their story.
“I knew that I’d never be ready…”
I’ve meditated a lot on losing my loved ones. I’ve been blessed so far in that I haven’t had to endure overwhelming loss. And while I think that it’s important that we ponder our mortality, we cannot become consumed by it. Somehow, we must find peace with the fact that the cost of life is death. That there is an end is exactly what gives life and our acts their meaning. All that said, I suspect that no amount of preparation for the inevitable will be enough. Will I hold firm when I lose my mom and dad? How will I be able to endure if I lose my wife and partner? Will I be able to endure?
Although the story told in these lyrics is not my own, I tried to imagine what I’d be feeling if I was going through the same. I can’t possibly know anyone else’s experience, but there are universal truths that connect us all. Being empathetic to the experience of others brings us closer together and builds community. I hope that this reggae meditation on loss and hope brings solace to others navigating their own loss.
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