One of the most painful and anguishing experiences for a mother is to not know where her child is. As long as that child is missing, a mother will spend every second wondering if her son or daughter is safe or in pain.
By the summer of 2018, an English mother had spent almost a year wondering where her adult son was and if he was safe. After finding no trace of him for months, she prayed that she would find him soon. Miraculously, her prayers were answered after she watched a music video released by a local rapper…
A Missing Son
For about six months to a year, one mother from Manchester, England, spent every day worrying about her son. The young man had been on and off the streets and struggling to keep his life together. According to the man’s mother, he eventually went missing.
A Worried Mother
Friends and family had tried to go out on the streets and to local shelters to try and find the struggling young man. But for almost a year, there was no sign of him anywhere. During that time, his mother couldn’t help but worry about her son and wondered if he was still alive.
Filing An Official Report
At one point, the family turned to the police for help hoping that they would be able to track their loved one down. They filed a missing persons report and waited for police to return with any news about the man’s whereabouts. Sadly, that never happened.
Months Of Anguish
The young man’s mother was forced to spend months without any information on her son’s location and she had no idea if he was hurt or starving somewhere on the streets while out on his own. During the summer of 2018, the woman prayed she’d find her son before the weather got colder.
A Dangerous Season
The winter months can be particularly difficult and dangerous for homeless people as they spend hours outside in the cold weather. To make matters worse, it can be even harder than normal to find food and warm places to sleep overnight as shelters fill up quickly.
Answered Prayers
Thankfully, however, the Manchester woman’s prayers were answered in August of 2018 when she spotted her son in a music video that had been released for Bugzy Malone’s new song, ‘Run’. Bugzy Malone, whose real name is Aaron Davis, is an English rapper who grew up in Manchester.
The Music Video
According to Davis, the new song was about the negative consequences that can happen to people as a result of not making the right choices as an adolescent. When it came time to film the music video to the rap song, Davis decided to center the video around homeless people.
The Hired Actors
At first, Davis and his record label shot a music video with hired actors. The actors were made up to appear homeless and destitute on the streets of Manchester. However, after finishing filming the video and seeing the first few scenes, Davis decided there was something wrong with the video.
Morally Wrong
It would have been easier to just release the music video as it was. However, Davis couldn’t help but feel that it was wrong to use paid actors pretending to be homeless. Instead, he wanted to feature real people in need on the streets of Manchester.
Reshooting The Video
According to Davis, he wanted to give money to people who really needed it. So, Davis decided to completely reshoot the video from scratch. This time, he would get the help of actual homeless people in Manchester who were willing to be featured in the video.
Hitting The Streets
“Today we went out and reshot the whole video, I told em I don’t want to pay actors I want to connect with and pay the real people of the streets,” Davis explained in a caption on his Instagram. After going out on the streets, Davis explained he managed to find several people who agreed to be in the video.
Helping People In Need
“We got proper people off the streets of Manchester in there,” Davis explained in an interview with BBC 1Xtra’s DJ Target. “We went out and got proper homeless people. We had a chance to chat to them and give them a little something,” he added in the interview.
Hitting Close To Home
According to Davis, he was inspired to feature real homeless people from around Manchester in his video because of his own past. While Davis has found success and wealth as an adult, he wasn’t always so fortunate. In his youth, Davis explained he didn’t always have a bed to sleep in.
First-Hand Experience
“As a kid, there was a point when I found myself staying at whatever friend was kind enough to let me stay on their sofa,” Davis wrote in an Instagram post. According to Davis, he even was forced to sleep on the streets on a number of occasions.
Sleeping On The Streets
“I’ve had to stay on the street couple times when people’s parents were too strict to let me stay and [that’s] not nice,” Davis said about the traumatic experiences. “For this track and video, it was important that the video truly represented the story.”
An Important Message
“This video is a demonstration of what can happen if you don’t make the right decisions as a younger,” Davis said. “I’ve been at the bottom it’s not easy, homeless or not you must treat people with respect rich or poor. People that have struggled are the special ones out ere! Shout out the city that taught me all that I know I will help as much as I possibly can.”
The Email
After releasing the new and improved video for ‘Run’ in August of 2018, Davis explained that his management team received a message shortly after from a local mother in Manchester. The woman explained that her son had been missing for almost a year and that she spotted him in the video. The mom explained she was hoping to find information on the man’s location to reunite with him.
Reuniting The Family
“We got an email off a mum of one of the guys, the guy had been missing for six months, to a year,” Davis explained. “He was on the missing list. And when she’s seen him in my music video, it made her go out and find him.” After passing along information, the family was finally reunited.
Words Of Kindness
Davis then learned that the man had tried to commit suicide. However, when he was reunited with his mother while he was in the hospital, she showed him something Davis had written about him on social media. “A caption said, ‘My guy was special regardless of his circumstances, you never know what people have been through,’” Davis said.
Back On Track
“When he’s seen that I’d written nice things about him, it inspired him to get his life back on track,” said Davis, who explained that his part in reuniting the family has been the proudest moment of his career thus far. “He’s back home with his family and he’s got a girlfriend,” said the rapper.
