Finding healing from grief with music

Image Credit: José Kelly

8th Sep 2020
Tags: Music News Jose Kelly Hip-hop Rap

Mozambique-born, Oxford-based hip-hop artist José Kelly is known for his hit single “Getting Started” on xRhythms. Now he’s releasing a brand new album called ‘Eagle’.

His record label HTI, formerly known as D/Hope, posted a five-part interview of Kelly on their YouTube channel HTI Television. In it, he revealed that the album was inspired by a difficult year he faced.

He stepped back from writing music to support his mother.

For Kelly, 2019 was a year filled with grief and loss, including the loss of his aunt. He stepped back from writing music to support his mother, who lost her sister, several friends who lost their parents, and focus on healing.  

Since coming out the other end of this challenging time, Kelly has evolved as a person and a musician. In 2020 alone, he has dropped three singles including “O Town”, “Living Well” and “Queen”.

Kelly also shares a love letter.

Although his upcoming album seems to be about loss and other serious topics, Kelly also shares a love letter to the new home he found as a teen in Oxford, the new friends he has made, and his relationship with God. 

Moving to Oxford as a teen was not easy for the hip-hop rapper. Trying desperately to learn English after having previously lived in Mozambique and then Portugal, Kelly started reading a Bible that was posted through his door without knowing what it was.

He was led on a road to success.

This sparked his relationship with God, and from then on, he was led on a road to success. Kelly later joined a church youth group, where he met most of his friends, and started making music.