Legacy is what you leave behind for the living to remember you by. Once your time is up, when your ticket number has been called in and you have been recruited by the reaper, what will you have done to be remembered?
Will it be your riches, your presence or will it be what you have done for your parents? Will your friends be feeling helpless because you will no longer be there to support them, will you have lived a life full of laughter or will you have wiped the smiles off everyone you will have encountered? What exactly is legacy? What will be yours? Will you even have one? Or are you too busy making one time hits to create a classic.
I always say nothing in life scares me but after deeply considering my options, I have been lying to myself. My legacy scares me, what I am known for when I am gone scares me. I am not scared if I am known for evil, I could not care less. I am scared because I might not be known at all. Music and films always trigger these thoughts in me, Quam what will you leave behind? Look past children, grandchildren or whatever asset I might end up owning. What will people say when they speak of me?
If you know me then you know what music means to me, I can barely put it into words. My favourite rapper of all time Jay Z said in ‘Young Forever’ “My name shall be passed down to generations. While debating up in barber shops”. I guess you could say I also want to be discussed. Evil people also have followers so regardless of what they leave behind, they are also remembered. ‘Lil Jimmy (Skit)’ on ‘The College Dropout’ album by Kanye West, ‘Efflictim’ by Kid Cudi and a whole other songs triggered this. The whole of ‘Sing About Me… ‘ by Kendrick Lamar brought me to tears so much that the only way to stop was to write my own version. Two of my all time favourite films, ‘The Perks Of Being A Wallflower’ and “Me And Earl And The Dying Girl” brought me to tears. The idea of being in a situation where you do not know if you are living your last day or not and having so many things to juggle and you forget to do something memorable. I can be such an emotional wreck sometimes.
One of my good friends once said to me after I discussed this subject with him, “you have this blog that you have started, so you could say that is your legacy. The people you have touched, advices you have given and lives you have been in is your legacy. I will tell my children about you and share our stories”. That is one of the nicest things I have ever been told and it made me realise something.
My idea of legacy has always been to touch the lives of many or maybe just one person, I must be famous…something I am not doing currently. I would say I have touched lives but I have never been content enough to be okay with that as my legacy. You could call it ambition, not wanting to settle for less. I say that it is the thought of not being shaped roundly enough. I preach a lot about many things but we all have flaws. One icon we all look up to is Bob Marley but my personal favourite is Kid Cudi. He is to me what you would call a saviour as his music has touched my life and many others. His music will live forever in the lives of his fans and that is his legacy. I then look at myself and think what am I doing wrong. With all the confidence I posses, I am still not where I want to be but I am growing and we all are.
Legacy is something that is hard to achieve and you can only leave a lasting memory if your mind is 100% attentive. Mac Miller said “I am too obsessed with going down as a great one but if you wait too long, they go find someone to replace you”. It really is like that, there are many people in this world wanting to write their name into this earth and leave it there for million of years so it is a game of musical chairs once you are on that pedestal.
A fitting quote to end this with from one of my favourite films, if not my favourite; ‘Dead Poets Society’. “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?.
What will your verse be? Will you be sang about?
Hak Gway
POTS 