A song discussing the tragedy Baton Rouge has faced in what some people may call a “cruel summer,” merging three different local musical artists, R&B Singer Kylon “KWish” Wishom, Christian Rapper Rayshone “Burke” Manuel, and Rapper Jamaal “Fletch” Fletcher all with one message in mind… “Where do we go from here?”
Wishom said it all started with this the police shooting of Alton Sterling.
“It was sad to see it happen in your backyard, like it was real, and I think at times, some people don’t understand what they’re marching for,” said Wishom. “They are just marching, but then it’s us. We’re conscious of it, like man, I’m a black man right now in America.”
“It never hit home, you know, it never was here until I saw that video, and I just couldn’t stop watching it,” said Fletcher.
For Manuel, he believes that situation was more than skin deep.
“It wasn’t that an officer killed a black man. What if the police officer would have prayed before he got out that car and got that call. How different would his mindset would’ve been. Even with Alton, he’s out there trying to provide for his family, but what if he would have been more rooted and covered himself before he went out,” said Manuel.
The Alton Sterling shooting was the first of three events to rock the Capital City, and the second, the fatal ambush on several local law enforcement officers.
“First, it was the Dallas shooting, and I was like ‘Wow.’ Then when it hit home, it was like ‘Here we go,'” said Manuel.
“My pastor came out, and he was like ‘You guys, let’s pray right now. There was a shooting on Airline.’ So in your mind, you’re like there was a shooting on Airline. Somebody else got shot, but when I got home and saw that it was several officers involved, I was like ‘Man, it turned into a war zone'” recounted Wishom.
As the community was continuing to heal from that tragedy, a flood washed over parts of the Capital Area, including at Wishom’s home. Wishom said he got up to four feet of water, and now, his family is forced to rebuild.
However, the musicians all agreed the devastating flood didn’t divide our city, it united it.
“This flood showed me that family is not just blood. Family could be somebody you don’t even know,” said Wishom.
“This flood affected everybody. There’s no excuse for that one,” said Fletcher.
“It wasn’t manmade. God allowed this to happen because of the division that was there. There was hatred and everything, and the water rose up to allow people to be unified,” said Manuel.
So, the musicians took these three events and made them into art.
“I called Fletch I said ‘Hey man, I’m working on a song it’s called ‘Where Do We Go From Here?'” said Wishom. He said ‘You know what man, we need to add another artist on.’ I said ‘Man, I don’t know who I want to add?’ I said ‘Boosie or Webbie,’ He said ”No man, somebody different, somebody kind of spiritual.’ He said ‘What about Burke?'”
“The timing was right. I had already said no, but he sent it, and it had resonated with me,” said Manuel. “I just instantly started going in and writing stuff in my head. I sent it back, and I was like ‘If we’re going to do it, it has to be positive, like man if you want me to be a part of it no n-words. We’re not blasting Black Lives Matter throughout the song or bad cops. No, put life in it.'”
That’s exactly what they did, turning this pain into music… into a message, but the musicians tell me, even though their goal is to be positive, they did get some negative.
“People saw the video, and they were like ‘Alton Sterling wasn’t murdered. He was just shot. This happened. This happened,'” explained Wishom. “I mean, you saw a negative aspect of it, when we had a whole picture. We’re trying to move passed this, and you’re still revisiting the past. She called me and was like ‘Why you didn’t go in on that guy on Facebook? He said something about your character.’ You know why, it’s bigger than him. You know, he is one negative person. I won’t allow him to take down the whole vision of what we’re trying to create.”
Now, the question is, where do we go from here?
“Still see the past, but use the past to move forward,” said Wishom. “Be a light. Give to somebody, help somebody out, lend a hand, pray for somebody else, don’t make it so about you because the day you realize it’s not just about you is the day you’re going to impact everyone around you as well.”
“We have to come together and pray together. You can walk passed somebody and tell them have a nice day, have a blessed day, Jesus love you or whatever,” said Manuel.
“All I can say is stay positive. Stay prayed up. I don’t have the answers,” concluded Fletcher.
Wishom also has a movement he calls “I Just Want to be Heard.” If you’d like to see the whole music video, just head to the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQoLibgM2jc