Khanma texted, “I wrote a whole breakup album. Don’t judge me.” Then, she sent me a rough cut of her new single, “Sorry.”
Fulfilling usual expectations of laying ironclad lyrics over slow roasted Afric-Island beats, I was struck by my friend’s ability to unpack the frustration of a relationship’s stalemate and make it music. Then, I commenced to judging:
It’s like a safe full of cash
It’s like a safe full of cash
but we in spending
cause we can’t crack the code
baby if I love was money
we could’ve had a million
but you rather be broke
all you had to do was apologize
maybe then I give you another try
but yeah you acting stubborn
all mad over nothing
see me poker face not bluffing
In the song, Khanma draws a distinction between the disunity spawned by hubris and the unifying love birthed by humility. Love is the code to a safe holding a million dollars. But pride and conflict prevent the relationship from taking advantage of the wealth that would engulf both parties before exploding outwards into a supernova of dope assed stardust creating a dope assed new generation of dope sh*t.
Me vs You. Us vs. Them.
Whether in our own relationships or as we observe the turmoil in our world, this season reveals how the barriers we create to protect our egos prevent us from healing and thriving. The inevitable is imminent, but resistance only makes the harrowing process last longer, further traumatizing our collective memory.
We could’ve been together
we could’ve held the sun up to shine
we could’ve been forever
we could let the love transcends time
Sorry is an anthem to the frustration of now. It is an opportunity to express the anger, the longing, the disappointment, the desperation, and the gridlock of trying to make love happen in the perfect imperfection of complete humanness. The universe is ever expanding. All things grow exponentially at the speed of consciousness. New planets. New stars. More space. More awareness of interdependence. More awareness of unity. Both parties wanting to expand, crashing into one another, pushing at each other until the pressure causes them to explode.
Any way you slice it, it's a hard thing. Artists take the charge to help aid in the healing of the species by expressing hard emotion through waves when words fail. Unpacking the trauma. Making it beautiful.
So yeah, Kahnma wrote a break up album. But it's right on time. We all are experiencing a breakup of sorts. A breakup of old patterns and ways of thinking. A breakup of normal as we're being launched into the unknown that we must imagine. A challenge to let go of what could have been, embrace what is to come, and let the sorry fade like a flame in the rain.
Kahnma's new single, Sorry, will be coming soon...
Dr. Cathryn D. Blue is a social psychologist, author, pop culture aficionado, and writer for kahnma.com.
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