Json on the story behind ‘Live On’, why he cried when Obama was elected

At Legacy Conference 2016, Lamp Mode Recordings CEO and artist Json told Rapzilla the story behind track No. 5 of his new EP Foreign, Vol. 1, “Live On” featuring Bhird.

“That record actually started with me having a conversation with a dude who is in our [Mission: St. Louis] program,” Json said. “He had done 20 years in the penitentiary for two murders.”

Json is the director of job and leadership training at Mission: St. Louis, a non-profit which fights poverty in the city. He said the man’s first words in his interview for the program were, “I just want a second chance, bro. That’s all I want.”

“That mug just stuck with me,” Json said.

The emcee explained that he wrote the song to remind people from the struggle to persevere for that second chance.

“The premise of the record is that most dudes feel like, ‘I might not see tomorrow. I’m just trying to live now,'” Json said, “and then you have a person that’s wrestling with that mindset.”

Json also shared the heart behind a line about President Barack Obama in the second verse of the song.

Obama got elected, I cried the first time I saw myself inside a president’s eyes /
Not saying I’m in agreement with him, I’m just saying I see progression of a people in him ’cause we ain’t been livin’

“I remember weeping and balling and being confused like, ‘Why am I feeling this?'” Json said, as he didn’t even vote for Obama. “And then it reminded me like, when I tell my son, ‘You could be the next president,’ that’s not a dream I’m selling him anymore. That’s not something that he can’t see tangibly. It’s something that now I can say, ‘Look at him,’ when we couldn’t say that before. It’s a lot deeper than just the actual office, and the roots run deeper than that as well.”

Buy Foreign, Vol. 1 on iTunes.

David Daniels
David Daniels
David Daniels is a columnist at Rapzilla.com and the managing editor of LegacyDisciple.org. He has been published at Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, CCM Magazine, Bleacher Report, The Washington Times and HipHopDX.
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