Blogocentric Formulations

Gotta Live

"The Soundtrack of Your Life"  | DAY 7

"Gotta Live" by Tedashii feat. Jordan Feliz

I'll be the first to admit that the genre of "Christian hip hop" is a bit unorthodox, but every once in a while a song comes along that just kind of works. This is one of those songs for me, where it's not too hit-you-over-the-head religious, but is nonetheless inspiring and actually kinda works as a hip hop song. This particular song is off his 2019 album Never Fold, and I'm definitely planning on checking out more songs off that album, as well as his 2014 album Below Paradise which was recorded as part of his spiritual struggle and experiences dealing with the death of his one-year-old son the previous year.

I've been thinking a lot about using art to process through life experiences lately. Both Tedashii's early album and in a couple different podcasts I listened to this week, there's been a theme of writing (or creating art) in order to process through some sort of life event. I'm not sure I've ever done that, and it intrigues me. Writing, which is the only art form I'm even somewhat good at, has always been an outlet for me in terms of stress relief, entertainment, etc. But I've always written commercial, entertaining things. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've attempted to actually write something that helps me process something I'm struggling with in my personal life. Over the past week or so, I'm wondering if that's something I should actually try, and - if so - how to go about it.