Music

Rod Wave Therapy

Healing through hip-hop

Photo from the author

Every single one of us takes music for granted. A lot of people do not understand the importance of what music can offer other people. I want to take a brief minute to address Rod Wave’s music and the impact it has had on my life.

Value

I have been listening to Rod Wave’s Ghetto Gospel album on repeat for the past few days, and it has hit me in so many different ways. Of course, the first few times listening through the album, it is enjoyable to listen to just based on the music alone. However, as I continued to listen more in-depth to it, a lot of the lyrics began to take hold.

The reason he is so important is for quite a few different reasons. For me, one of the main reasons is that he openly explores his only emotions and experiences without holding back. He demonstrates this rawness and genuineness with no shame. He speaks of his experiences growing up, the highs and lows, the grit, the strength, the mistakes, his abandonment issues, his passion for love in his life, and what he enjoys doing in life in general.

His music allows men like me to understand that it’s ok to learn how to open up about all different areas of life. It helps me feel more comfortable understanding that it is ok to share my most important times, the lowest times, and the most painful times. Growing up with very few true genuine attachments, my own abandonment issues, being misunderstood, tumultuous love experiences, anger, rage, deep emotional pain, and mental health issues left me very alone. I had to learn how to be tough at a very young age.

Impact

I remember being in 1st grade and, for the first time, feeling that no one gave a shit about me. I literally stood up in the middle of class and screamed out that no one cared about me in front of my teacher and other classmates. Though I am sure it was a cognitive distortion, it became a truth for me. It is a truth that I continue to struggle with to this day, but it is one that I am learning to let go of slowly but surely.

While my initial reactions to these feelings at a younger age were anger and rage, I had to learn how to adjust as time progressed. I learned how to fit into any group I was around in order to…