After hearing of how his daughter was being bullied both while attending school and in situations outside the classroom, a father chose to tap into his creative side and write a hip hop song that showed his love for not only his children, but his entire family, while also invoking an anti-bullying message.
The song, entitled Love Yourself and written by Khari Toure, lasts for just over four minutes, beginning with the bullied daughter explaining her plight to her father. The father responds by rapping about how bullies focus on an individual’s weight, size and race, and that the measure of an individual’s heart can’t be determined by a tape measure.
Repeating mantras about how an individual’s beauty and worthiness, coupled with the belief that words meant to hurt are harmless are the true value of that person help lead into establishing a belief system that’s based on intelligence and self-importance.
Body image is also covered, with Toure noting that his older daughter’s thin frame is nothing to be ashamed about and that concern about body types can lead to eating disorders.
In addition, one of the goals of the lyrics is to create enough confidence to continue with dreams, even if they get sidetracked at some point.
The video was posted on August 31, and in the space of just a week, it went viral with over 152,000 views responding to the continuing positive message that Toure was seeking to send, with most noting that it was inspirational.