In a post shared to his Instagram and Twitter accounts on Monday, the 55-year-old Christian rapper shared a series of photos from McKeehan’s recent memorial service in Franklin, Tennessee. The powerful images depict the boy’s friends and loved ones carrying his casket. Many were clad in red sweatshirts reading “Shiloh,” in tribute to McKeehan’s rap stage name.
“As we enter this week of Thanksgiving we have something we’d like to share… Such overwhelming love has surrounded us this last month,” the note began. “We still don’t quite know which end is up but we do KNOW, we are loved.”
He continued, “As we mourn our firstborn son, God has poured out His love on us through people. He has loved us through you….your kind acts and words and prayers and thoughts and songs and poems and teachings and gifts and meals and time and expertise and travel have made death bearable. You have been God’s light to us in our darkest days, a comfort to our broken hearts. We have experienced family at every layer and every turn. From the closest to those who have loved from a distance, thank you, thank you a thousand times over. We are grateful for your gentle and compassionate hearts. It is something we will never forget. Community as it should be…the body at its best. How God must be pleased!”
McKeehan died suddenly on Oct. 23. The Davidson County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that medics responded to a cardiac arrest call at the family’s Tennessee home.
He went on to praise his son’s musical talents, calling him a “true artist.”
“Everyone felt it, everyone knew it. He could’ve easily taken the easy route and put music out when he was 12, 14, 16, even 18, but he always said he wanted to live some life and have something to say before he did it. He didn’t want to be a child star, he wanted to be a man with scars and a story to tell. I always admired, respected and encouraged that stand,” he continued.
Like his father, religion played an important part in McKeehan’s life, although he was not a “cookie-cutter Christian.”
The rapper went on to reflect in-depth on the last moment he shared with his son while attending his concert at the Factory in Franklin, Tennessee.
“I had to leave the next morning very early to fly and start our Canadian tour. As I stood in the audience and watched my son bring joy to a room, I was as proud as a ‘pop’ (as tru called me) could be,” he noted. “It was the culminating moment of a dream that he had since he was 12. It couldn’t have been sweeter. Our music, and what we say lyrically couldn’t be more different, but the outcome was much the same… offering a room full of people a few minutes of joy in a crazy world.”
Sharing a screenshot from their last text exchange, the proud “pop” packed on the praise as he told his son how “very very very proud” he was.
“I wanted to tell you how proud I was of your last night…Your show was amazing and I think you got the ‘it’ factor which is very important but unexplainable. Your joy is infectious and you invite people into it,” he wrote, adding that he was also moved how he “encouraged” and supported another artist “after most people left.”
“That kind of thing right there will take you farther than great art… God doesn’t miss those things,” he wrote. “He notices things like that and blesses us I promise.”
In response, his son replied, “Love you dad.”
“Thank you so much. You have always believed in me,” he continued, noting that his father’s support made “me feel like a superhero.”
“We don’t follow God because we have some sort of under the table deal with Him, like we’ll follow you if you bless us. We follow God because we love Him. It’s our honor. He is the God of the hills and the valleys. And He is beautiful above all things,” he wrote.
source: people.com
