Revisiting “Bring Hope” nearly a decade after its release and the mid-tempo anthem is still a phenomenally impactful song, although the lyrics hit different in a post-pandemic and pre-recession space in time.
Originally released in 2014, the realization of “Bring Hope” was no easy feat. For one, the budget was next to none and the production was a process within itself that required bicoastal communication during a time when FaceTime and Zoom were not as widespread.
Hip hop artist J The Man and R&B and pop songstress Winnie D, now known as Daby Kosh, were a few years removed from Texas, living the dream of thriving artists in sunny California.
Fairly new to managing music artists, I connected the two artists for a vision of a song that I had conceived while writing a poem I thought would bring greater contextual representation to the landscape of rap music, which was becoming more and more removed from the purposefully meaningful messages of its predecessors, such as those delivered by Grand Master Flash’s “The Message” and Tupac Shakur’s “I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto.”
What was always apparent about rap is that it was meant to be a voice and a form of self-care for a community of oppressed people. Being that I was a bit new to the A&R process of putting a song together, J The Man added his masterful art of writing rap bars, while Daby Kosh contributed her specialty of synchronizing the genres of contemporary adult with hip hop through harmony, melody, and vocal tuning. Atlas, “Bring Hope” was born.
The recording session for the song was a magical (and stressful) time. J The Man, naturally confident when it comes to his music, heated up the mic with a fiery lyrical delivery that, after a few days of back and forth debate, ended up being a force field of high-level expression.
He raps, “I got that faith for your veins / I put that hope in your crack pipe / Teach you how to swing / When you’re down to your last strike / H-O-P-E and G-O-D / Only two things that a real n*gga need.”
-J The Man, “Bring Hope”
Daby Kosh’s powerful yet sultry vocal contribution to “Bring Hope” was absolutely essential to delivering the emotional ascendancy that the song so much deserved. Daby Kosh sings, “I just want to bring you hope / Inspire change / No matter what you’re going through / Keep believing, your situation will change.”
“Bring Hope” was before its time. The likes of Instagram, TikTok, and other modern day conveniences that we enjoy today, did not exist and the song only went as far as the artists’ could take it as independent creatives new to the California music landscape. However, “Bring Hope” was and still is one of those underrated songs that delivers a powerful punch, while evoking thought. It is also one of the few songs that I can truly say I’m proud to have been apart of creating, from conception to realization.
Listen To “Bring Hope” Below:
