2020 has been a crazy year!! So much has taken place - it's hard to keep track of everything!! So in the spirit of counselling, I'm doing a check-in - catching y'all up to how I've been, providing my perspective on life and the world, and offering some encouragement. 😊

I was inspired by Big Sean's song "Deep Reverence" feat. Nipsey Hussle (RIP) and wrote to the instrumental. All credit for the song concept and instrumental goes to the original artists and producers (johan lenox, Rogét Chahayed, G. Ry, Audio Anthem & Hit-Boy).

Enjoy! 😄

Lyrics:

I'm coming with them 2020 bars
Speaking real knowledge and not some money-hungry barbs
That some other rappers do
But not coming with attitude 
I'm just simply here to raise our Awareness and Aptitude
Those double As. I'm charging up with efficiency
My life got energized when I received my epiphany 
Of what I meant to do
In my life and then pursue 
This current drive in my life but not talking a 10 to 2
Or even a 9 to 5 - it goes more than that
I'm here to promote love and peace that has sorely lacked 
In our communities and the globe at large
Where those with assault and battery still end up being the ones in charge
I'm just trying to be the difference
Somehow, someway it'll be done - that's persistence
Gotta stick to the grind - that's commitment
With acceptance and therapy combined to ACT consistent
Religion turned me into a perfectionist
I wondered how I with God was the best of fit
But the truth is I'm not and the message is
I'm good enough just being human and not an impressionist
I don't have to be another man
Or a perfect person. I don't have to be someone other than
Myself and love him fully
And defeat my inner critic for he became a destructive bully
Stuff got wild for a while
I went from being the child with a smile
To a teen with some mean
Then an adult with a sulk
All from inner peace disturbed - finding fault in my gestalt
I didn't think my whole self was good enough
And the feelings of insecurity just wouldn't budge 
My vocabulary was full of "shoulds" and "musts"
Which led to having parts of me that I simply couldn't love
That means, holistically speaking, it broke me down
And I kept looking for other's validation to hold me down
Like a tent on an empty ground blowing in the wind
No wonder when anxiety comes, I'm folding in the limbs
Or when depression's present, I'm thinking suicide
Crying out with a heavy heart - thinking "Who am I
If I keep on struggling?" And "Can I truly rise
From the pain that's sustained and aim to the bluest skies?"
I'm telling you - it got real with the knife
Pressed against my flesh as I reeled from the strife 
Situation of '05, '14, even last year
In the midst of church and studies where my pain amassed tears
Man, imagine that
Places I'm to find peace and purpose had me strapped
Ironic 'cause I couldn't shoot my shot - I passed it back 
There were holes in my schemas but didn't attack the gaps
Rather, I ran it back. A loss instead of gain
Mentally concussed and tossed on a bed of pain
Lost within my brain and confused on where to turn
Till I learned self-worth is something I don't have to ever earn
It's a fundamental given - our function of humanity
Any treatment less than that is suffering brutality 
No - we're meant for better and I mean this with every letter
That I write in all my rhymes. Within each of one us is treasure.
Expectations were like a gun to the head
The things that once were fun end up dead
What we used to love turns to dread
And the places we found rest change to bugs in our bed
In the midst of our comfort we end up bitten 
That's why it's so important to uncover what is hidden 
To reveal our deepest issues and proceed to deal with 'em
So the traumas that occurred - we no longer have to keel in 'em
So if in the midst of our limes we put tequil' in 'em
Or in this midst of our rides we start to reel and bend
From pressures, our joy and peace, they won't be stealing 'em
And we can live out our lives without concealing 'em.

Thompson Robin