
Songs from the West Indies are always fun, a great beat with heavy bass singing about partying among other things. Once in a while an artist will sing about reality and the world about him or her. When this happens you will hear them sing about obstacles they had to overcome or the hardships of others, religion, faith and hope. There are fair songs about suffering, hope and faith that come from Dancehall/Reggae artists. A good example of these songs are Chuck Fenda and his song ‘Gash Dem and Lite Dem’, Swedish artist Etzia’s Same Ting A Gwaan and the oldie but great song Bob Marley’s Redemption Song
Blessed By The Father is a single by Trinidad born Reggae artist Junior Don. While not having the same overall tone as songs about pain and hardship it does find its way into that territory with faith and hope. Don talks about ‘haters’ that he encounters in his everyday life who would speak down to him or troll him about his music.. This song is openly telling them that they can not deter him from his work because he has the All Mighty protecting him.
The Lyrics and Melody
Blessed By the Father is the traditional Caribbean Dancehall song, with a heavy kick from the drums along with a strong bass behind it. The background melody accompanies the drums and bass nicely. When listening to the song you can only pick out three parts, the singer’s voice, the drums and the melody. All three will stick with you long after the song itself has ended.
The lyrics have a powerful message, the song is about Don telling those who oppose him that no matter what they try to do to him or say about him, he will succeed since he is blessed by the father. The beginning of the song puts the listener in his shoes as he says no matter what happens keep your faith, your will and your focus. This is what I meant by it going into the faith and hope territory. It does have the overused Hater message that is heard in almost (ALMOST) every rap, hip hop or R&B song: ‘You haters can’t keep me back, you can hate me all you want I will be on top’.
While it is that overall, what makes this song interesting is that he talks about faith and hope so to anyone who is feeling low or beaten by life that be translated to believe in yourself, have faith, don’t let others get you down because you are blessed by the father, he is your Armour. From that point of view this is an inspirational song, I liked it, and it stuck with be for a while.
The Music Video is promoted by RAMATVinc, a Trinidad and Toboggan music company that promotes Caribbean artists and events.