Twelve-year-old singer of Black anthem song signs record deal

Keedron Bryant, the 12-year-old who turned heads on social media with his passionate performance about being a young Black man in today’s world, has signed a deal with Warner Records and his poignant song will officially be released Friday.

Keedron Bryant’s powerful video, posted on May 26, features the lyrics “I’m a young Black man doing all that I can” from the song “I Just Wanna Live,” written by his mother. Friday’s release of the track coincides with Juneteenth, the holiday to commemorate the emancipation of slaves in the U.S.

“It’s very exciting because this is what God’s called me to do,” Keedron Bryant said in an interview with The Associated Press this week.

Johnnetta Bryant, 38, said watching the video of George Floyd dying as a police officer pressed a knee on his neck “really hit my heart just so deeply because I am a mom to a Black son. I have a Black husband. I have Black brothers, uncles, cousins, friends.”

So she said a prayer and asked

God to send her a sign. “I needed His wisdom. I went into prayer. He gave me those words so clearly,” Johnnetta Bryant said of writing the song. “I told (Keedron), ‘...I want you to take these words and I want you to pray over them. Meditate on them. Whenever you’re done with them, come out and we’ll record it.’ He did just that.”

The clip went viral, with Barack Obama, LeBron James and more acknowledging its impact and importance on social media.

Warner Records is donating 100 per cent of the net profits of “I Just Wanna Live” to the NAACP and for every stream of the song on Amazon Music, the company will donate $1 (U.S.) to the NAACP for the first 24 hours the song is out, giving up to $50,000.