afro-pop

You know, people do not know everything about you and this is because we don’t walk about with our challenges and battle scars written on our foreheads, except you want to indulge in self-pity and make it known. Or maybe you are one of those unfortunate people with physical evidence (I am so sorry about that).

But I remember, as a teenager after secondary school with no admission yet and ‘errands’ was the school I attended while my imaginations kept me busy. I remember how I didn’t want to be a liability to the loving people around me – I needed to be a man for myself and buy those ‘small small’ things by myself. So I met a friend, and we spoke about it, he introduced me to his ‘oga’ and every morning, due to the situation at hand, there weren’t any source of money because I intentionally wanted to become a man so I did not ask for money. We would wake up early, do our chores, get ready and go to the railway. Oh! Life is not fair in this part of the world, I saw old women and men, little babies and mothers , wearied and frustrated-but strong- fathers, jobless graduates and hustlers waiting, waiting for the train. That train.

It didn’t mean much to me then because, I was part of them. I was standing too and waiting.

I was waiting to run, and grab something, push someone and not care if they got hurt or got crushed (because the train waits for no one and that is how life is. Nothing waits for you. Nobody will wait for you, so if you are still waiting for a ‘ginger’ to start that great idea God has given you, just remember my brother, Terry G is doing a different song right now) …I was waiting to STAND all the way in the train, because it was already filled up with people and goods from where it came from. I was ready for all these. I was ready for that train.

Each time I did this, I said to myself ‘mehn, guy…your children will never go through this kind of wahala.’ And I would look at the faces of the people in ‘that train’ with me and wonder, ‘what’s going on in their minds? How’s life with them? What is their hope for a brighter and better future?’ I got no answers.

You see, life in general is like a ride, you know some people already started before you, some gave up along the way, some died and some reached their “DESTINY’NATION” and rested. I guess the things we go through during this ride are the road bumps, the accidents, the checkpoints (because of some situations) and the lack of fuel.

Over the years, I realized that we are all on a train to somewhere, a train that will lead us to our dreams, it doesn’t matter what you do, who you are, your background, rich or poor, we all have dreams – even if it’s just settling down and raising three kids – to some people, that’s a dream and there’s nothing wrong with that.

These dreams are the things we hope for, while the trains are ‘what we engage in’. I like to put it this way. So, I guess all those weeks of jumping on and off the train for me was – IS – a means of God telling me something, giving me an idea – a personal perspective about life, and that’s why I wrote a song titled ‘Dreams and Trains’ (yes o! Hahaha, it’s a song I wrote all these things for, forgive me).

The song is a simple song that I really love and respect, it talks about what we go through and the hope for tomorrow because of the presence of God in our lives. It encourages me and I believe it will encourage you. I have my brother Cris Kester on it, and I am sure you will love the part he says “so when we stay without food, know that we’re fasting and when things are kinda slow, know that we’re resting. “

I can’t wait to share this project with you, and I believe it will be a blessing to you for/in a very long while. It drops on the 20^th of June, 2015. Save the date.

Thank you.

– Leo Owan.

Watch my promo video below.