Why is Soul Jah Love a hero

EVEN before he was accorded liberation hero status, Soul Jah Love was a hero. He was a hero of the youths, the oppressed, the silent members of our society.

Because misfortune followed him like a shadow, he was able - through his songs - to identify with all sorts of pain.

He could identify with the pain of losing a loved one.

He lost his twin brother aged 15, one of several people that he loved that died on him.

Others included his parents and his grandmother who took care of him following his mother’s death.

He could identify with the pain of living without a mother.

His mother, Stembeni, died when he was only two years old.

It is not easy to be motherless from such a young age but our society has many orphans that are going through the same life Jah Love lived, with the same painful experiences.

Jah Love was also familiar with the pain of living in poverty, often referring to himself as a street kid (chigunduru).

We have many street children in our society that know exactly what he sang about when he spoke through their voice.

He also went through his adult life wanting to have a child but failing and that caused him great grief.

Many couples and individuals in the country and beyond are going through that and it is not easy to handle such a challenge.

Then there was the illness, sugar diabetes.

It is a chronic health condition that affects how your body operates everyday of your life.

Jah Love had to inject himself every day to manage that condition and that is not easy.

Many diabetic people will testify and again, he sang of their concerns.

Jah Love also had to deal with issues of drug abuse as these problems often pushed him to drugs and the results were usually regrettable.

He sang about this and talked about it, to the benefit of the ghetto youths who are constantly dealing with drugs and the challenges of abusing them.

What is remarkable about Jah Love, and what made him a hero, is how he managed to rise through all the aforementioned challenges to become the king of Zimdancehall.

The biggest lesson we can take from Jah Love is how we can all fight to achieve our life’s goals and become heroes and heroins in our fields despite the challenges haunting our lives.

Soul Jah Love had a plethora of problems but he still chased his passion: music. And he did his best to use the challenges in his life as a fuel to spur him to greatness.

That is why he is a hero!